Nuzlocke: Dimensional Destruction
by mangaluva
Summary: On the trail of the escaped former Aqua leader, Saylee and Key find themselves in Sinnoh, a country on the brink of chaos thanks to the machinations of an enemy that Saylee has faced before. With a full chorus of gods, knights, princesses, detectives and criminals, nothing will ever be the same again. (Sequel to Calamity Calls. Platinum Nuzlocke with dual protagonists.)
1. Prologue

_Saylee—Pokémon: 0 Deaths: 0_

 _Key—Pokémon: 0 Deaths: 0_

 _{Monua 24_ _th_ _, 4:35 pm}_

 _{Royal Suite,_ S. S. Nerida, _Canalave City}_

In the centuries since the introduction of air flight, it had never gotten particularly popular as a method of commercial travel, due largely to the danger—the sky belonged to too many powerful flighted Pokémon, who, even with the Gab, were difficult to negotiate flight paths and territories with. Particularly dangerous were Hydreigon, dragons which were only outmatched by space flight in terms of altitude. Flight was a popular form of low-altitude in-country travel, when teleportation wasn't an option, but for getting between countries, travellers were mostly content with ferries and cruise ships. Any given ship was as likely to be carrying businesspeople or Interpol contingents as tourists and holidaymakers—or, in this case, a Head Ranger of Kanto and League Champion of Hoenn.

"You know, if we had waited another week, we could have gotten a regular cruiser that we could have taken our Pokémon on," Saylee said, wrapping her soft yellow scarf around her neck. With her right arm freshly out of its sling, getting dressed was easier, but she still couldn't lift it very high or use her fingers very well yet.

"Yeah, but that'd be a week later that we'd be on Archie's trail, and we're already a week behind him," Key pointed out, pinning her eight badges and Champion's ribbon inside of her pink coat. "We can port our Pokémon in once we get to Canalave, anyway."

"Yeah… but fair warning, no matter how much of a rush we're in, if we don't stop in to visit Mum and Byron when we get there, there'll be hell to pay," Saylee warned, pinning her Draconic emblem inside of her dark blue longcoat. It went down to her calves, unlike Key's, which only went to her thighs. "And not from me. Are you sure you're going to be okay with jeans and a coat? Are you at least going to put a jumper on under your coat?"

"I have a scarf, too," Key said, picking up a long white scarf. "Do you think I'll need it? It's only Monua."

"You will need it," Saylee assured her. "Sinnoh gets _way_ colder than Hoenn. Do you even know what cold feels like in Hoenn?"

"Like that feeling when you turn the air conditioning up too high, right?" Key suggested, staring into the mirror and adjusting her Beautifly hairpin repeatedly.

Saylee gave the pin a Look but didn't comment, instead going to grab her bag and turning the screen display to the camera on the front of the ship so she could view Canalave City approaching. "Have you got all of your stuff together?"

"Damn, no time for a last soak in the hot tub," Key sighed, watching Canalave grow closer in the display. "So, where's your mom live?"

"It's easy to find," Saylee promised. "…I think. I've only actually been here once, for the actual wedding…"

{ _Monua 24_ _th_ _, 6:00 pm_ }

{ _Canalave Gym, Canalave City}_

"Saylee!" Johanna said happily, hugging her daughter tightly. Saylee had seen her mother many times on video calls over the previous two years, but she looked so much more vibrant, with her hair now dark blue and a happy sparkle in her eyes. "How are you doing, sweetie?"

"I'm as good as ever, Mum," Saylee promised.

"That bad?" Johanna said sympathetically. Saylee laughed. "So, is this the famous Key?" Johanna added, turning to smile at Key. "I've heard a lot about you, dear. You two come in and have some biscuits and tea."

"Thank you very much, Mrs… um," Key said, lost momentarily.

"My married name is Tougan, dear, but please, call me Johanna!" the older insisted, ushering them inside. "Ron's out at the gym just now, taking on a challenger, but he's been looking forward to you getting here!"

Saylee looked around curiously as they walked through the house, which she hadn't seen since before her mother had moved in. The halls were actually decorated now, with some of Byron's fossils in wall-suspended displays on the blue walls rather than lying about haphazardly on tables, and the kitchen had been redecorated from slate-grey to yellow. Pinned to the fridge were photos and giffies that Saylee recognized as ones she'd sent to her mother. She smiled at a giffie of her and Blue waving at the camera, then allowed herself to be steered into a seat at the small kitchen table. There was a plate of biscuits and poffin rolls in the middle.

"You guys'll have to give me the grand tour when Byron gets back," Saylee said, helping herself to a poffin. "How is it here?"

"You know, the people are lovely and food is so cheap!" her mother said happily, filling the teapot with boiling water. "I've gotten very good at baking those poffins. People buy them by the armload to feed to their Pokémon for contests!"

"Oooh, aren't the contests here different from the ones in Hoenn?" Key asked, picking out a poffin. "What are they like?"

"Well, I haven't seen the Hoenn contests, I'm afraid, so I can't compare," Johanna said, bringing over the tea and passing out cups, "but they're _beautiful._ There's a dress code, both for the trainers and their Pokémon, but the contest halls usually have boutiques where you can have outfits tailored for your Pokémon, and I…"

Saylee took over the job of refilling teacups while her mother chattered excitedly about the contests that she'd entered, basking in the brief mental holiday of thinking about something that was completely non-vital, non-fatal and _fun_.

They were onto their second pot of tea before the door behind Saylee burst open and an exuberant voice boomed, "They're here! How are you, Saylee?"

"Hi, Byron," Saylee said, getting up and accepting a boisterous hug from her stepfather. "How was the challenger?"

"Not living up to their potential," Byron said, scratching his head. "Hey, is that oran tea I smell?" He put his arm around Johanna, gave her a kiss, then headed for the cupboard with the mugs to grab his. "So, is this your friend Key? We've heard a lot about you, kid. Didn't so much get sucked into the weird stuff that happens around Saylee as jump in headfirst, eh?"

"You say that like it's her fault," Key objected.

"I didn't say it happens _because_ of her, I just said it happens _around_ her…" Byron clarified. "Hey, no judgement, a lot of people'd be a lot worse off if it was happening around somebody else, y'know?"

"Well, there's an element of choice in it," Saylee sighed. "I choose not to walk away a lot."

"Yes, but isn't that what the geisha said was important about you, dear?" Johanna said, patting her daughter's hand. "That you never just assume things are somebody else's problem and walk away. That was why they chose you to protect Ethan and Silver, you remember, back when…" She glanced sidelong at Key.

"Key knows, Mum," Saylee explained. "About Silver being an avatar. We'll go visit him in Oreburgh the first chance we get."

"You'd better, that kid misses you something awful," Byron commented. "Not that he'd ever say a thing about it, of course, but you can tell he does. He keeps goin' on about how he can't wait to show off his new Leadership to you. Well, he's still an apprentice, but…" He shook his head. "I'd've apprenticed him to take over this gym, but I don't think he was up for that."

"It's not that he doesn't like you, Byron," Johanna assured her husband, squeezing his hand. "The opposite, I think. He gets embarrassed when people notice that he doesn't hate them, and you know his feelings about his…" here her tone turned unusually acidic. "…his _biological_ parents are still so complicated. But he calls every day to tell us how he's doing. You just missed him by an hour, in fact. I'm sure he'll be very excited to see you again."

"Okay, my parents run an orphanage, so I've grown up around adopted and rehomed kids, so can I just put in that it's awesome how you two treat Silver?" Key put in. "I mean, Saylee said he's not actually blood related to either of you…"

"C'mon, what does that matter?" Byron laughed, giving Saylee a hug. "I scored two awesome kids when I got a kind, wonderful, beautiful wife, and they're already big enough that I don't have to babyproof all my tools, so that's a bonus, eh?"

"What, you mean I'm not supposed to try and eat your power drills?" Saylee asked. Byron just laughed and grabbed a biscuit. "So listen, I totally need you guys to give me the grand tour of this place, but after that I really need to go port in my Pokémon from Hoenn… we're not just here to visit, sadly. We're on the trail of one of the people responsible for all that crap in Hoenn."

Johanna and Byron exchanged worried looks. "I'm sorry, Saylee," Johanna said, "I meant to tell you, but you left Hoenn so quickly and I assumed you'd be bringing your Pokémon in yourself after all that fuss getting _into_ Hoenn and, well… Sinnoh's been suffering horrible power outages for the past few days. The trans-country teleporters are down because there just isn't the energy to power them. Human teleportation between towns is shut off, too, mainly because the power outages keep causing random porter blackouts and health and safety means they can't risk having someone in mid-teleport when that happens. Item porting is still up, though."

"We can't get our Pokémon?" Key gasped.

"That's not good," Saylee underestimated with a frown. "I mean, human teleportation is no trouble, taking the country on foot is the best way to scour it for Archie anyway, but we can't do that without our own Pokémon…"

"You can get from town to town safely using the Underground," Byron pointed out. "Tell you what. We'll show you around, and then I'll take you ladies down to the police station to see if there's any reports or sightings of your master criminal. You never know, they might find the reason for the power outages and have the porters back up any day now."

{ _Monua 24_ _th_ _, 7:10 pm_ }

{ _Canalave Police, Canalave City}_

"There haven't been any… I don't know, unusual thefts?" Saylee asked. The Sinnoh police's photographs of Archie were clear enough and keyed into the facial recognition technology in their security camera network. They hadn't picked up his face yet, though, and for Key's sake, Saylee hoped they got to the Aqua Leader before the police did. Key seemed to believe that he could achieve redemption, and if he couldn't… well, Saylee would quite like to get in at least one punch of her own first.

"Well, a rare water-type was stolen from Professor Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town," the officer behind the desk said, scrolling through her computer. "The only witness was one of his assistants, a thirteen-year-old boy named Lucas Hikari."

"Did he describe the thief?" Key asked quickly.

"He only saw the thieves from a distance," the police officer reported, "but there were two men… one with spiky hair and some kind of foreign bird, the other with some large, fast water-type and a frilly blue coat."

"Do you think that could be him?" Key asked, looking at Saylee. "The frilly coat one? I mean, we know he was disguised as Juan, and the fast water-type could be that Sharpedo…"

"It's a little vague, but he could fit that description," Saylee said, "and we have no other leads, so we might as well check it out first thing tomorrow. I think we can get to Sandgem fairly quickly by the Underground if the trains are still running…" _I hope it's him_ , she thought. _If this is a real lead on Archie, maybe we can get this done and out of the way before I have to start chasing down Galactic…_

{}

{}

 _Good evening, folks, and to celebrate the fourth anniversary of this series, here's the fourth fic—_ Dimensional Destruction! _This one follows immediately after my Emerald nuzlocke,_ Calamity Calls _. Reading the previous three fics is fairly necessary for understanding pretty much the entire plot of this one and many of the characters in it. Once again, the main character is Saylee, now joined by the dual protagonist of_ Calamity Calls _, Key, as the illustrious pair take off to Sinnoh to follow some leads and kick some ass—but of course, life is never easy on them, and the situation in Sinnoh is already much worse than they expected…_

 _Key is the creation of the fabulous Key-chan, who has been inspiring me to write cruel, terrible things for years :D Key-chan plays the German version of the game, in which the character names are different. While most character and place names are in English, some, for various reasons, have been given the German names instead. Sometimes it's because we like the German names better than the English ones, sometimes it's because the German name seems more appropriate for thematic reasons, and in one case it's due to an injoke between ourselves that has mutated into a plot point. Any time character names are German instead of English, I'll put a note in the A/N just to make sure you know who it is. (I think it's fair enough to assume that, this fic being in English, most of the readers will have played the English-language version :P). The most prominent ones that have come up so far are Marc and Kalle—Maxie and Tabitha of Team Magma in the English version. This one was entirely a case of liking the German names much better._

 _The fabulous Key-chan is also writing a parallel fic called_ Deliverance, _which starts about a week before_ Dimensional Destruction _does and follows a couple of people who are equally incapable of running normal lives. If you haven't been reading it, drop everything and go read it now. It's posted on this same account on FFnet. Go on. Go read it! GO!_

 _As you can see, we've also decided to implement a little date/time/location thing into the scene breaks because for the first time we actually have a solid internal timeline noted down and it amuses us to do so :P Do you like them? Are they obstructive?_

 _Okay, so as a little standard reminder, the Nuzlocke challenge is aimed at hardcore Pokémon gamers who want a bit more challenge out of their game. There are three basic rules, with various alterations possible._

 _Catch only the first Pokémon you meet on each route or territory. If you kill the first Pokémon, too bad. Move on and catch nothing in that area ever again._

 _Dupes clause. This extends along the evolutionary line; if you've caught a Zubat and then lose it, you cannot later catch a Golbat. You get three tries to catch a non-dupe._

 _Shiny clause. If you catch a shiny outwith the catching rules, box it and don't use it ingame._

 _Nickname all Pokémon. (I do this alliteratively.) This rule famously serves no real gameplay purpose, other than making rule 3 hurt more…_

 _If a Pokémon faints in battle, it is dead. Box or release it, but never use it again. (I box them. And it is painful.)_

 _If your entire team faints, rebuild from your boxed Pokémon._

 _If you have no boxed Pokémon, start from your last saved point._

 _I don't use the no-items or no-heals rules (I lose Pokémon too often anyway!) and I use battle style shift._

 _So that's the challenge. It's certainly turned out to be more emotional than a usual runthrough of the game, making you much more attached to your Pokémon—which, again, just makes it hurt more when they die. That's probably what brings the Pokémon to life so much in your head. This is still Saylee's story, but it's also Key's. And neither of them are very good at peaceful lives…_


	2. Chapter 1

_Saylee Pokémon: 0 Deaths: 0_

 _Key Pokémon: 0 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 25_ _th_ _, 12:25 pm}_

 _{Sandgem Town}_

Sandgem Town was a quiet little town, almost entirely a small suburb surrounding the central square that seemed to contain all of the shops and other important buildings. Very few people were out, possibly because of the frost that cast a layer of chill over everything, but Saylee and Key didn't need to ask for directions; the laboratory was easy to spot, both for its imposing size and the pair of police officers standing guard outside of the door. After showing their credentials, Saylee knocked a couple of times on the lab door. It was opened by a worried middle-aged lady with black hair and labcoat.

"Excuse me," Saylee said, holding up her brooch again. "My name is Sar Saylee Pryce of Kanto. A stolen Pokémon was reported from here, right? I just want to ask some questions about the thieves."

"We already talked to the police, you know?" the woman said nervously, adjusting her glasses and looking to one of the police officers standing guard.

"We're not the police," Key said, showing her own ribbon. "I'm Key… Lady Keyanu Weaves of Hoenn," she corrected herself, aping Saylee's formal introduction. "We just have a few questions. It's really important…"

"Claire, did that woman say 'Sar'?" a man's voice called loudly from inside the lab.

"Yes, Professor," the woman replied over her shoulder.

"Show her in, please!"

"Thank you," Saylee said as she and Key were ushered into the laboratory. Most of the walls had observation windows into microhabitats for Pokémon with extreme climate needs, and the floors and tables were covered with notebooks and the kinds of scanners that Saylee had seen Professor Oak and Daisy use in their field research. A black-haired girl of about fifteen was sitting at a computer, downloading some data into a flat folder screen, while a boy of about thirteen packed devices into a heavy brown suitcase. They looked very similar, with the same dark hair and eyes; Saylee would guess brother and sister. They also felt familiar, in a way that took her a moment to pinpoint. _Oh… great. Just great…_

Saylee recognized Professor Rowan, a powerfully built man in his mid-sixties, from televised lectures he'd presented on the topics of Pokémon growth and evolution. He was kneeling next to two small Pokémon, a green Squirtle-like one with a sprout on its head and a skinny, orange humanoid one with a flame tail. The orange one had some kind of glittering stone circlet around its large head.

"We require that you furnish us with an appropriate retinue so that we may locate Prince ourselves," the orange one asserted haughtily.

"I must insist that… ah," Professor Rowan stood up when he noticed Saylee and Key. "Excuse me, Princess. I am Professor Rowan," he introduced himself, shaking Saylee and Key's hands in turn.

"Sar Saylee Pryce of Kanto," Saylee said introduced herself again, "and this is Lady Key Weaves. Nice to meet you."

"We want to ask you about your stolen Pokémon," Key explained, "and we have some questions about the thieves that your assistant saw…"

"That would be Lucas that saw them," the Professor said, glancing at the boy, who looked up, biting his lip nervously. "Lucas, do you want to…?" Lucas' gaze flashed to his sister. "Ah, that's alright. Dawn, can you give these ladies the description?"

"Of course, Professor," the girl said, setting the file down and hurrying over, giving her brother a brief fistbump on her way past. He went back to his packing with a relieved expression. "Well, it was only Lou that saw 'em, and only from a distance, y'know? He took Prince for a swim up at the Lake, and then this real fast water type went shootin' by, he said, with some big tall guy with dark hair and a frilly blue suit on its back." Lucas nodded along to his sister's description. "And then this big bird flew by that he didn't recognize. _Definitely_ foreign, y'know? He thought he saw somebody on its back, but couldn't see what they looked like. Then Prince didn't come back, y'know? He wasn't anywhere in the lake. So maybe one of those guys stole him, eh?"

"Tall, dark hair, frilly outfit stolen from Juan… sounds like Archie," Key muttered to Saylee. "What about the person on a foreign bird?"

"Might be an Aqua member with a Swellow or something like that," Saylee replied quietly. "Might be some other friend of his. Might be nothing to do with him at all, just somebody flying by. But the swimmer could well be Archie… it's a lead worth following, at least." She turned back to Dawn and Lucas. "We're on the trail of this man. Any idea where he went?"

"He could have gone south to Twinleaf, but there isn't much there so his best choice would be going north to Jubilife," Professor Rowan said thoughtfully. "Thanks to the power shortages, the teleporters in this area have been shut down, so there's nowhere else he could reach directly on foot. There's the underground, of course, but they're coated with security cameras, and none of them caught any suspicious figures, according to the police."

"We can swing through Twinleaf and then check out Jubilife," Key suggested.

Saylee nodded. "Thank you," she said, nodding to Dawn and Lucas in turn.

"If you want to thank us, you can do me a favour," Professor Rowan said, crossing his arms. "Sar, eh?"

"Knighted by the grand master of the Dragon clan himself," Saylee confirmed, holding out her dragon emblem.

Professor Rowan tapped it, pulling his finger away extremely quickly lest he be burned. He nodded to himself thoughtfully. "Well, Sar Kanto, might I introduce you to Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet?" he said, gesturing to the little orange Pokémon. "And this is her handmaid, Terra. Princess, this woman is a knight of the realm, and her companion is a Champion of Hoenn."

"Indeed?" Caelin said, peering critically at Saylee. "Have you fought in many battles, Sar?

"Nearly all of them," Key put in. "I mean, didn't you get knighted for beating, like, the entire Dragon clan?"

"Not the _entire_ clan," Saylee corrected her. "Just most of the high-rankers. I've never fought the Master himself, but he doesn't battle anymore."

"Nevertheless, humans have a reputation for strategic skill," Caelin mused, "and we expect that this is especially true for you, to have won so many battles. Your hand, please, Sar." A little nonplussed, Saylee held out her left hand to the little orange Pokémon. Instead of shaking her hand, Caelin scrambled up the human's arm and perched on her shoulder. "Ah, strong shoulders. Very good. Until we acquire a suitable steed, you shall certainly suffice. It is decided!"

"Wonderful, my lady!" Terra said happily, plodding over to Saylee and Key.

"Aww, aren't you sweet," Key giggled, scooping up Terra.

"What's been decided?" Saylee asked warily, looking sideways at the little fire Pokémon, who was perched warmly on the shoulder she'd claimed and had started to buff her claws.

"You shall be our chief advisor," Caelin declared. "We shall require one if we are to become the Fire Lord of Mt Coronet."

"I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with Pokémon social structures in Sinnoh…" Saylee said, looking questioningly at Rowan. "I'm not even entirely clear on what you two are."

"Dawn, you're working on a paper on the three clans, aren't you?" Professor Rowan said to the girl. "Why don't you explain?"

"Oh, sure!" Dawn said enthusiastically, grinning brightly as she dropped her file again. "Now, human nobility is all but nonexistent in Sinnoh these days, y'know? Only one family can definitively trace its lineage back to the times of the Dragon Empire, but they don't have any special socio-political power aside from bein', y'know, really rich. Well, a lot of families in Snowpoint claim to be offshoots of the Price family, but anyway. Pokémon, on the other hand…" She bobbed a little curtsey to Caelin. "The three most powerful clans are the Fire Lords of Mt Coronet, the Water Lords of the waterlands and the Leaf Lords of the forests. They're powerful fire, water and grass-types respectively—Infernape, Empoleon and Torterra are the highest evolutions—and the leadership of each clan is hereditary, but only through a direct line, because..."

"Slightly off-topic, Dawn," Professor Rowan said patiently. "Explain who Caelin is first."

"Of course," Dawn said, a little flustered. "Sorry, Professor. Caelin there's a Chimchar, and the youngest sister of the current Fire Lord, an Infernape called Indra."

"That is _Princess_ Caelin," Caelin corrected her. "We also have three further brothers and a sister who are Monferno, and our eldest sister is an Infernape, meaning that she is the only one with the right to challenge our brother the Fire Lord for the crown."

"You see, the reigning Fire Lord will usually have several children, y'know?" Dawn explained. "Only the strongest inherits, regardless of age order. The first to evolve to their final form will usually be officially made heir, but any others who evolve have the right to challenge them."

"Indeed," Caelin said with a nod. "We had thought to travel and train off of Mt Coronet in order to increase our power faster than our siblings. We descended in order to seek a human advisor. Our faithful Terra attended us, as did our betrothed Prince."

"Prince is a Piplup, and the youngest son of the current Water Lord," Dawn explained. "Alliance matin's are often organized between the three clans to keep relationships positive, y'know? The three clans are incapable of interbreedin', however, which is actually part of the point. Out of the siblings who struggle for power, only the inheritor may have children. The other royal siblings may never have children, y'know?"

"Long ago, the royal families often grew overlarge, with too many of royal blood fighting for dominance," Caelin explained. "It has long since been royal law that siblings of the Fire Lord may not have young. Our betrothal to Prince is thus arranged. It is, as such, our duty to rescue him, now that he has been kidnapped."

"What if you became Fire Lord?" Key asked curiously, petting Terra's leaf. "Would he still be your mate?"

"Prince is a dear soul, but were we Fire Lord, well…" Caelin grinned. "We should be entitled to do whatever we like."

"Do you understand?" Terra asked. "We are looking for the same man that you are. We can look for him together, and on the way you can help us get stronger."

"How about it?" Professor Rowan asked. Dawn siled and hurried off to help her brother. "I'm about to set off on a research trip myself. I can't spare the time to help the Princess in her search. Will you?"

"Doesn't sound like a bad plan, does it?" Key said, cuddling Terra. "After all, thanks to those power outages, we also can't get our Pokémon here…" She sighed sadly. Saylee suspected that the blonde had gravitated to Terra because she missed Thomas, her Grovyle. "Hey, they never said what you are, Terra…"

"I am a Turtwig," Terra explained, bowing her head. "A simple commoner from the deep forests, who is privileged to serve Princess Caelin."

"Shall you enter into our services as our royal advisor?" Caelin asked Saylee.

"Sure," Saylee agreed. "I like training fire Pokémon… I need to know something, Princess. Is your tail flame connected to your life force?"

"Indeed it is," Caelin said, glancing over her shoulder at her burning tail.

"Then if you don't have a pokéball, you're going to need one," Saylee decided. "If there's heavy rain or snow, or if we need to cross water, a pokéball's the only way for you to travel safely."

"Sound advice already! I see we shall benefit greatly from this arrangement," Caelin said, waving to Professor Rowan. "Professor! Pokéballs!"

"Um, h-here," Lucas said quietly, offering a handful of pokéballs to Saylee and Key each.

"Thank you," Saylee said, reaching out to take them with her right hand, frowning as gripping proved to still be too difficult, and pocketed them with her left. Caelin gave her advisor an appraising look, then shuffled a bit further out along the human's left shoulder. Lucas blushed, nodded, and hurried off, muttering something to his sister.

"Professor, we've got everythin' together and we're ready to go," Dawn reported. Claire swooped on her and her brother, giving them both a hug and a kiss goodbye. "Mooooom!"

"Then we must be off," Rowan said, pulling on a long brown overcoat. "Go say goodbye to your father, you two, and then we'll make for Jubilife. Sar Kanto, Lady Weaves, Terra, Princess… best of luck." He tipped his hat to them before he put it on his head.

"Thank you, Professor," Saylee said, pocketing the pokéballs. "Which way to Twinleaf, please?"

{ _Monua 25_ _th_ _, 2:00 pm_ }

{ _Route 201}_

"Brrr! It's _cold_ here," Key exclaimed, rubbing her arms and hugging Terra tight as the frosty grass crunched under their feet while they made their way to the outer suburb of Twinleaf.

"I told you you'd want a heavier coat," Saylee said, shoving her own gloved hands into her pockets.

"Yeah, but you have a fire-type on your shoulder too," Key pointed out. "Why is it so _cold_?"

"We're in Sinnoh in late Monua," Saylee said. "I know just about everywhere's cold compared to Hoenn, but Sinnoh at the beginning of winter is cold compared to _everywhere_. Let's just keep moving."

"We must take time to acquire a retinue from many different areas," Caelin declared. "Our influence must be widespread if we are to be an effective Fire Lord."

"Well, then…" Saylee said, clicking open her Pokédex and pointing it at a pair of grey birds that were grazing in the long grass ahead of them. "Starly… doesn't seem to be too different from a Pidgey. I've trained them before. Having somebody who can fly is always handy."

"They shall no doubt be fine additions to our retinue!" Caelin declared. "Terra!"

"Yes, my lady," Terra said, wriggling out of Key's arms and plodding forward through the frosty grass. "You there, Starly! Excuse me!"

"What?" one of them asked, looking up. "The name's Stan, not Starly."

"Can I help you?" asked the other.

"I am here to invite you into the service of Princess Caelin, soon to be Fire Lord of Mt Coronet," Terra said formally. Stan looked at Caelin and laughed.

"Stan, that's rude," the other one reprimanded him. "But… I'm sorry, it's just that last we heard, Mt Coronet has a Fire Lord, and he's an Infernape, not a little Chimchar."

"What Sean means to say is thanks, but no thanks," Stan said brusquely.

"Your rudeness is intolerable!" Terra snapped, tackling Stan, who collapsed.

"Stan!" Sean screeched, scratching at Terra and knocking her back. "Take a hint, willya?"

"Terra!" Key cried, scooping up the injured Turtwig as she backed away hurriedly from the angry Starly. Terra started trying to climb back out of Key's arms, determined to get back into the fight.

"When you're Fire Lord, are you going to let people treat your subjects like that?" Saylee asked Caelin, who scowled.

"We most certainly will _not_ ," she declared.

"Then scratch that one," Saylee said, pointing at Sean, who was shrieking and clawing at Key's arms.

Caelin hesitated for a moment, but when Sean charged at Terra again, she leapt from Saylee's shoulder and swiped her claws at Sean. The second Starly collapsed with a shriek. "We _will_ become Fire Lord," she declared to the fallen birds.

"Oof… they're _tough_ , huh?" Stan coughed.

"Yeah… maybe you _could_ be Fire Lord," Sean agreed, trying to flutter back to his feet and collapsing again.

"There is no _maybe_ about it, peasant," Caelin said with a scowl, drawing herself up regally so that the weak, wintry sunlight glinted off of her circlet.

"Fine, then," Sean said, bowing his head awkwardly. "Consider me yours."

"And _you_ can consider me _yours_ , hardhead," Stan said to Terra, waving a wing.

"Sar!" Caelin called. "Pokéball, if you would! Meet our assistant, Sar Saylee of Kanto," she said to Sean.

"Hi," Saylee said, pressing a pokéball to Sean's head. He vanished easily into the light.

"'Sup, I'm Key," Key said, catching Stan.

"As you are Sar Kanto's companion and Terra's caretaker," Caelin said thoughtfully, "we have an additional duty to request of you, Lady Key. You would be perfectly suited to manage and train our royal guard. Stan will be its first member and leader. Sean, I think, will make an admirable messenger and scout…"

"Once we heal him up," Saylee promised her, heading back to the path. "I'm sure Twinleaf will have a healing machine for him."

{ _Monua 25_ _th_ _, 5:17 pm_ }

{ _Twinleaf Town_ }

Twinleaf didn't have a clinic, but it did have a community centre with its own healing machine. The town was little more than a suburb of Sandgem, anyway. The population was small and few of them were out, and of the ones that Saylee and Key stopped to ask, none of them had seen Archie. Sean was sent scouting after he was healed.

"We can at least check Lake Verity," Saylee suggested. "Those reports of Red Gyarados sightings are bothering me."

"How do you even get a _red_ Gyarados?" Key asked, looking confused.

"I've only seen one," Saylee explained, patting the pocket of her bag where she kept her dreamcatcher thoughtfully. "He was forced to evolve by Team Rocket's forced power signal…"

"I've seen documentaries about that!" Key gasped. "They never actually showed any footage of any of the Pokémon, but they said that Pokémon got deformed, even _killed_!"

Saylee nodded. "Princess, Terra, Stan… none of you hear any odd sounds, do you?"

"Nothing at all," Caelin said, cocking her head to listen a little harder.

"Nothing like a whining or buzzing, kind of high-pitched?" Saylee suggested with concern.

"Nope," Stan said, looking up at the sky. "Hey, there's Sean!"

Sean swept down to perch on Saylee's shoulder—the one Caelin wasn't sitting on. "Report, Sean!" Caelin ordered, leaning over Saylee's head and immediately plucking Sean off of Saylee's right shoulder.

"Can you please not do that?" Saylee said, reaching up to gently push Caelin off of her head. "Strong shoulders, yeah, but my neck's not so great. People have tried to strangle me too often. I appreciate the thought, but my right shoulder's alright, it's just my actual arm that's a little messed up right now."

"Our apologies," Caelin said, settling back down. "Though we will be requiring an explanation for all of that at a later date. Now, Sean?"

"There _was_ a strange human at the lake," Sean reported. "A male, I think. I didn't go too low, I stayed circling high. He had blue hair, I think…"

"Could've been a blue headscarf," Key said, clutching Terra and jumping to her feet. "C'mon!"

They set off running towards the lake, carrying Caelin and Terra with the Starly flying after them. The path led them through thick green conifers through which a glittering lake could be distantly glimpsed.

"Sssh!" Saylee hissed, coming to a sudden stop and grabbing Key's arm to make her do the same. "Hear that?"

Key listened for a moment, her eyes widening as a deep voice distantly drifted to them. "It… it's him, isn't it?" she breathed. "That sounds like his voice!"

"I think so," Saylee said, creeping carefully up the path, not over-eager to startle the Aqua leader into bolting. _If he's by the lake and has that Sharpedo of his, he could be gone in seconds if we don't do this right… dammit, if only I had Skye or Toby here…_

They stepped off of the path, following the voice through the trees until they could peer through the branches at the tall man standing by Lake Verity.

"Is that the ruffian we seek?" Caelin asked, peering curiously at the man.

"No, he's not," Saylee said, pausing to size up the tall, blue-haired man in the long grey coat. They were close enough to him to see that it was certainly blue hair, and not a bandana, and close enough to see that he definitely wasn't Archie. Despite the thick coat, he was clearly too thin, and what she could see of his face was too pale and square.

"The flowing time… the expanding space…" the man said softly, staring out at the lake. Listening closely, while his voice was very, very _similar_ to Archie's, the cadences were different. "I will make it all mine one day…"

A chill ran down Saylee's spine. She was struck by the impulse to attack the man, to knock him down, but she fought it back. The man was holding high-powered pokéballs in his hands, and she only had Sean and Caelin. "Let's get out of here," she muttered. "I know weapons-grade 'batshit when I see it."

"Are you saying that man is _dangerous_?" Terra said, frowning.

"If he is a danger to the lake spirit, he must not be allowed to linger here!" Caelin declared, leaping from Saylee's shoulder. "You there!" She shouted. "Leave this place immediately!"

The man turned sharply and began to stalk towards them. He had a large, sloping forehead and cold, pale blue eyes—not cold and pale like ice, but more like a corpse, Saylee found herself thinking. There just wasn't life in them at all.

"Caelin, get back here!" Saylee yelled as the man, in response to an angrily flaring Chimchar advancing on him, released a Sneasel.

"Step aside," the Sneasel snarled, raising its claws.

"Hey!" Sean yelled, darting forwards. He took the full force of the Sneasel's Slash. "UNH!"

"SEAN!" Saylee cried, trying to return him to his pokéball and feeling a sickeningly familiar heaviness when it didn't work. "Dammit!"

She dove for her Pokémon as the man and his Sneasel coldly brushed past her.

"There was _no_ _need_ for that!" Key screamed furiously at the man. "No _goddamn_ need!"

The man and his Sneasel vanished into the trees without another word. Key started after them, but then hesitated, looking at Saylee as she knelt next to Caelin.

Caelin was standing frozen, staring at Sean in mute horror. Some of his blood had splashed on her face, staining her crown.

"My lady?" Terra said fretfully, hurrying over to her princess as quickly as she could. "Are you hurt?"

"Sean!" Stan shrieked, trying to fly after the man before being grabbed by Key. "That bastard! He _murdered_ him!"

"That was why I said we should _back off_ ," Saylee snapped, unable to contain her anger. "That Sneasel wasn't the strongest I've ever seen, but it was certainly far stronger than any of you! Threat or not, we could not have beaten him in a fight! If you'd listened to me instead of challenging him, Sean would still be alive!"

"You ought not to speak to the Princess so disrespectfully!" Terra snapped.

"No, Terra," Caelin said softly. "She is right. We retained you as advisor, Sar, but did not heed your advice, and Sean paid the price." She reached out and laid a hand on Sean's still head. "You scratched Terra, and we scratched you back. Thus, we will not rest until we have _ripped open_ those who have killed you. We swear it, upon our word."

"Royal word, huh?"

They all looked up at the plump brown Pokémon with big teeth that was waddling towards them.

"What are you doing here, Bidoof?" Stan demanded.

"Name's Bob, yup," the Bidoof said, stopping a few feet away. "Creepy guy killed your friend, huh? Sad, yup, real sad. I got wood, if'n you want to burn him."

"Thank you very much," Saylee said, looking down at the still rather stunned-looking princess. "Caelin, I'll teach you Ember so you can send him off yourself, okay?"

"Thank you," Caelin said softly.

"Terra and I'll help Bob here get the wood while you do that," Key offered.

"Right this way, yup," Bob said, plodding off.

{}

{}

 _HAVEN'T WE STARTED OUT WELL?_

 _I was going to keep updating these on Monday since I first started posting this story on a Monday, but I've been posting on a Sunday for over a year and it felt weird not to XD So updates are still gonna be Sunday. (Also I am very emotionally fragile from having read_ The Shepherd's Crown _today and SOMEBODY HOLD ME I EXIST IN A WORLD WITH NO NEW DISCWORLD BOOKS HELP ME)_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Caelin. Species: Chimchar. Nature: Gentle. Ability: Blaze. Acquired: Professor Rowan's Lab_

 _Name: Sean. Species: Starly. Nature: Rash. Ability: Keen Eye. Acquired: Route 201_

 _Name: Bob. Species: Bidoof. Nature: Sassy. Ability: Simple. Acquired: Lake Verity_

 _RIP Sean the Starly, level 3-3_

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Terra. Species: Turtwig. Nature: Bold. Ability: Overgrow. Acquired: Professor Rowan's Lab_

 _Name: Stan. Species: Starly. Nature: Brave. Ability: Keen Eye. Acquired: Route 201_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Chimchar, Bob the Bidoof_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Starly_


	3. Chapter 2

_Saylee—Pokémon: 2 Deaths: 1_

 _Key—Pokémon: 2 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 25_ _th_ _, 9:18pm}_

 _{Lake Verity}_

"That guy was such a freak," Key grumbled as they sat watching the pyre burn. Darkness fell very quickly in Sinnoh during the autumn and winter months; the humans were already in their heated sleeping bags, even though it wasn't long past nine. Caelin had one arm around Terra to keep the little Turtwig warm. The Princess, her maid and Buddy the Bidoof were the only Pokémon present; Stan had quietly asked to be put in his pokéball just after the pyre was lit. "Are you really going to let Caelin kill him if we see him again?"

"No, but I'm inclined to," Saylee said quietly. "He's a threat."

"Well, yeah, he's super violent," Key agreed.

Saylee shook her head. "I mean… it's not just that," she said. "We thought he sounded like Archie as first, but when you listened to the way he spoke… it was like his eyes. Flat and dead."

"Yeah, he gives you the feeling that he died years ago and just went on with his life afterwards, y'know?" Key said with a shudder.

"Yeah, but aside from all of that…" Saylee fidgeted uncomfortably. "When I saw him, I immediately felt that he was a danger to those kids. Dawn and Lucas."

"…come again?" Key said confused.

"They're avatars, Key," Saylee said quietly. "Things were pretty busy before, so I didn't say anything... but I could feel it very clearly, the same feeling I got when I saw Archie and Marc with the Orbs. One day, they will harbour gods. Hopefully a day far, _far_ in the future…"

"Seriously?" Key said in surprise. "Which ones?"

"I can't tell," Saylee said, staring into the fire. "It's not time yet... anyway, the moment I saw that guy, I just knew that he was a threat and it made me want to kill him, to shove his head into the lake and hold it there until he stopped kicking, which is not normal even for me. At least, not when it comes to anyone not… _Giovanni_. I think that guy's a threat to those kids… or their gods… or probably both. That's why whatever sense I've gotten from my habit of protecting these people wants me to kill him. And the catch here, of course, is that I'm going to keep wanting to kill him because I'm not going to _not_ protect two kids in danger. Whatever sadistic sod is in charge of this stuff has to know that I'm not going to walk away going 'screw it, let him kill those kids, I don't care'."

"Theoretically, y'know, Arceus is in charge of everything," Key suggested.

"Yeah, _that_ sadistic sod," Saylee agreed. "So while we're looking for Archie, I'm going to have to keep an eye out for those kids and that murderer. Not that I'm glad that Sean is dead, but I have an excuse to arrest him if I can…"

"Well, those kids went to Jubilife, at least," Key pointed out, "and Archie had to have gone in that direction, too."

"Right," Saylee agreed. "Next stop, Jubilife."

{ _Monua 26_ _th_ _, 9:30 am_ }

{ _Lake Verity}_

"Bob will be joining us," Caelin declared as they set out the next morning. She was sitting on the plump Bidoof's back. "He shall make a fine royal steed."

"Yeah, 'cause I'm so fast," Bob said placidly, plodding forwards.

"You want to come with us, Bob?" Saylee asked in surprise.

"Yup," the Bidoof said simply. "Let's go!"

Despite his slow appearance, Bob easily kept pace with Saylee and Key on the way to Sandgem. Dawn broke as they were walking through the town, passing some young children on their way to school.

"My lady!" Terra gasped as the light rose. "You still have blood on you!" She pointed at the red line running down Caelin's forehead, which had been indistinguishable from her orange fur in the predawn gloom.

"We made this mark ourself, this morning," Caelin said, holding out her thumb to show a bite mark, almost fully healed. "It is the mark of our vow to Sean. We will don this mark daily until he is avenged."

"Just be careful not to really hurt yourself doing it," Saylee warned her, "or you'll never avenge Sean. And Caelin?" She stopped, looking the Chimchar pointedly in the eyes. "I know you want to rip that man in half. Trust me, I fully understand that feeling. But he's a cold-blooded killer, and you're not. That's kind of the point. You're not something like him. You can be so much better than that. I do believe that, and so did Sean."

"…that's _Princess_ Caelin," Caelin corrected her quietly, looking away.

They walked in silence after that, turning north on Jubilife Street and passing through the last block of houses to the route north. A short way up the sloping path, two small blue-and-black Pokémon came tumbling towards them, snarling and swiping at one another.

"Oh my, a fight?" Terra gasped.

"Nah, just playfighting," Saylee said, scanning them with her Pokédex. "Like baby Meowth. They're young Shinx… electric-types."

"An electric bodyguard would be most useful for combating our water weakness," Caelin mused. "We must have one for our retinue!"

"Would you like me to engage them, my lady?" Terra asked, watching the two roll back and forth, swatting at each other.

"We both shall engage," Caelin declared, leaping down from Bob's back. "We shall win one of them to our cause with our own strength!"

"Dibs the other," Key giggled. "They're so cute!"

"Y'mean us?" one Shinx asked, noticing them. She sounded female.

"No, we're fearsome!" growled the other one, a male who was trying to look intimidating despite being pinned to the ground by the female.

"Prove it," Caelin demanded. "We are Princess Caelin of Coronet, and we demand only the best for our royal guard!"

"'Kay! RAAR!" the female growled, leaping forward and scratching at Caelin.

"Use your Embers, Princess!" Saylee called. Caelin spat hot embers at the female, knocking her down. The male leapt over her to attack.

"Tackle, Terra!" Key ordered. Terra charged forwards and met the male head-on. The weaker Shinx collapsed. Key and Saylee threw empty pokéballs, capturing both Shinx.

"We'd better backtrack and heal them," Saylee said, stooping to pick up the pokéball that she was fairly sure she'd thrown. "Great job, Princess."

"We look forward to meeting them," Caelin said, hopping back onto Bob's back. "Come, then. We must greet our new guards."

{ _Monua 26_ _th_ _, 1:48 pm_ }

{ _Sandgem Town_ }

"Sally, you shall be our personal bodyguard," Caelin explained to the female Shinx as they stepped out of the Sandgem clinic. "Leo, you will join Stan in our royal guard."

"That means you'll train with me," Key giggled, leaning down to scratch Leo behind the ears. "You're so cute!"

"Yeah… no, I'm not cute!" Leo objected. "I'm fierce!"

"You're cute, deal with it," Stan said, ruffling his feathers. "So are we going now?"

"Let's," Saylee agreed. They reached the path north again. "By the way… I checked up on the law, and it's like Hoenn. As trainers, we can't have more than one fighting Pokémon out of their pokéball at a time each when in cities."

"We refuse to be confined unnecessarily," Caelin immediately declared. "Bob, Sally, you shall have to retire in cities. Is this agreeable?"

"Sure," Bob said mildly. "But who'll carry you? Oh dear, you will have to walk, yup." Caelin hopped pointedly onto Saylee's shoulder.

"I'll keep Terra out, then," Key said. "Stan, Leo…"

"Balls, sure," Leo said. "C'mon, Sally, I'll race you ahead!"

"Stan, please scout with them in order to lead us to Jubilife," Caelin commanded. "There shall we seek the ruffian who kidnapped Prince!"

"Sure!" Leo said, scampering on ahead. "It's not far! C'mon!"

{ _Monua 26_ _th_ _, 6:00 pm_ }

{ _Jubilife City}_

Jubilife was an interesting city. Barely any of Sinnoh was flat, so every street was sloped, with the buildings on flat, stepped platforms. Saylee saw two connected apartment blocks that had two ground-level entry doors, one being nearly two floors below the other. Despite the challenging terrain, the city was large and bustling, with a number of tall skyscrapers towards the city centre.

"We're in the city now," Saylee said, holding out her hand to Caelin. "C'mon, I've got to put Bob and Sally away."

"Very well," Caelin said, clambering up Saylee's arm and perching on her left shoulder to watch as Saylee returned Bob and Sally. Key scooped up Terra to carry the Turtwig in her arms before returning Stan and Leo. "Now, where do we seek ruffians in a city such as this?"

"Let's go see if the police station has any priors on that murderer," Saylee said, "and if not, we can report him. We can also see the status of the Sinnoh police search for the Aqua leader."

"I did not think that your police would give such information to the general public," Terra said.

"They don't," Saylee replied, pulling at her coat lapel to show her Dragon brooch pinned inside of her coat. "But we don't have to worry about that. Come on, let's find some shops first, one of the shopkeepers'll probably be able to point us the way."

"Point what way?"

Turning around, they were faced with two familiar teenagers carrying a box of doughnuts so warm that they steamed slightly.

"Hello! You're the kids from Professor Rowan's lab—Dawn and Lucas, right?" Saylee said, smiling at them. Dawn huffed and muttered something about being fifteen-years-old-thank-you-very-much. Lucas just nodded with a polite smile. "Weren't you supposed to be with the professor?"

"He's back at the Pokémon Centre handlin' a few things, so Lou and I are gonna be lookin' around shops for a bit to pass time—just got some dinner, y'know?" Dawn replied, holding up the box of doughnuts. "Eh… we'll give you a doughnut if you don't tell our parents this is what we got. Anyway, what are you two doin'?"

"We were just looking for directions," Key answered, taking a chocolate-coated doughnut. Saylee grabbed one with sugar frosting. "Do you guys come to Jubilife a lot? We're looking for the police station so we can ask about the thief from the lab."

"Oh, that's easy to find!" Dawn said brightly, pointing up the hill. "Just keep goin' straight until—what's that man doin'?"

Figuring out which man Dawn was talking about wasn't that difficult. It was pretty hard to miss the brown trenchcoat zigzagging from one streetlamp to another—in broad daylight—and trying to be sneaky. Considering she recognised the face, Saylee wouldn't be surprised if he was being a little overzealous again. She'd occasionally seen the exuberant man running around on other cases in Johto, and he was a hard character to forget.

Watched by most of the people on the streets, the trench-coated officer dove into a bin and vanished. Saylee finished her doughnut, casually walked over and lifted the lid, saying, "Excuse me? Officer Looker?"

"I am not Looker! I am Agent Can!" a voice from the bin said, "and there is nothing I Can-not do!"

Dawn and Lucas both giggled. "Officer Looker, it's Sar Saylee of Kanto," Saylee said. " _Can_ I ask what you're doing?"

Officer Looker jumped out of the bin with his hands raised defensively, like an amateur TV actor trying to pretend they knew karate.

"WHAAAT?! ...How did you know?" Looker gasped. "How did you unmask me as a member of the International Police?!"

"We met in New Bark Town, remember?" Saylee said, nonplussed. "You tried to arrest me once, and then we worked together on another theft case at Professor Elm's lab later."

The black-haired officer stared at her for a long, thoughtful moment, before suddenly grinning brightly and snapping his fingers. "Aha! Saylee, yes! I recognise the name!" he said proudly. "I apologize. My memory has been very strange recently, you see? And now that my brain is no longer on moon, I recognise the face as well. You come from far if you are no longer in Johto, no?"

"A lot of stuff happened these past few months," Saylee sighed. "…Wait, how long have you been in the International Police?"

"Quite a while!" Looker said proudly. "I have officially been chasing criminals across the globe for—" He stopped and blinked, cutting off his sentence. He crossed his arms as his lips curled up into a smug smirk. "...Heh. You claim you were only making conversation, do you? But, I know better not to believe that. No, no, no." He waved a finger and clicked his tongue. "You recognized right away that I was someone extraordinary. That is why you spoke to me, is it not? Your power of observation is fearsome!"

"Eh, I'm not sure if findin' out you're from Interpol is due to our power of observation," Dawn noted. Lucas visibly bit back a laugh.

"Sar, you must formally introduce us to this man," Caelin ordered. "If he is an international police officer, he will be most useful to us!"

"Officer… sorry, _Agent…_ this is my friend Key, Champion of Hoenn," Saylee said, indicating her friends in turn. "This is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet, and that's her handmaiden Terra, the Turtwig in Key's arms. And these two are Dawn and Lucas, Professor Rowan's assistants."

"Oh! Oh! Yes! I see it now, yes, Lady Key Weaves!" Looker beamed, looking at Key. "I have watched your battles on television during the League events! Most spectacular, yes! I, ah—I apologize for the loss," he added with an empathetic smile. "I suppose, to lose your Linoone like that, it makes it hard to appreciate the win, yes?"

"Y… yeah," Key said, twisting her scarf in her hands. "But she made me Champion, so I'm gonna do all I can with that."

"Yes, yes, such extraordinary people! Quite admirable, you are!" Looker continued, bowing elaborately to the group. "Now that my cover has been blown, let me introduce myself. I am a globe-trotting elite of the International Police. My name... Ah, no. I shall inform you only of my code name. My code name, it is Looker. It is what they all call me."

"Wait, you used a codename even in the police?" Saylee said in surprise. "And you got on _my_ case for using a false name!"

Looker clicked his tongue at her again. "Untrue. Those are all very different situations, and you are missing certain facts, you will find." He didn't give her the time to respond and immediately skipped to the next subject. "Incidentally, is the saying, 'Don't be a thief!' familiar to you?"

"I didn't think it was a saying," Key said, grinning at the odd officer. "I thought it was just… y'know, common sense."

"Perhaps in, ah, translation, something is lost, hmm?" Looker said thoughtfully. "But still, taking what belongs to others is wrong. Unfortunately, there are apparently those who do not heed those words. In Sinnoh, in fact, there are criminals stealing the Pokémon of others. Even in Johto and Kanto have they been stealing, and much worse, oh yes! I have, therefore, been on the lookout for characters arousing my suspicion."

"We're looking for a tall, buff man with black hair—looks kinda tan?" Dawn put in. "Accordin' to these ladies, he's the one who stole a rare water Pokémon from our lab. Lucas got a glimpse of him, y'know?"

"No, I fear I do not recall seeing such man," Looker replied, turning to the boy. "Lucas, yes? Do you recall anything else of this man?"

Lucas shook his head. "He's pretty much already had all possible information squeezed out of him during the investigation," Dawn spoke up, "so, eh, I'd appreciate it if you could direct your questions at me instead so he doesn't have to talk to strangers?" Lucas nodded shyly. Looker tilted his head in a way that reminded Saylee of a curious Meowth.

"We, too, seek suspicious characters," Caelin said, getting the agent's attention. "Tell us, agent, have you perhaps seen a tall human with blue hair and a large forehead, perhaps wearing a grey coat?"

"Hmm… no, such a man I have not seen," Looker said, cupping his chin with his fist thoughtfully. "Individuals in grey, however, they are such suspicious characters that I seek! Have you, perhaps, seen suspicious characters with green hair and grey bodysuits?" Saylee froze, clenching her jaw.

"We are afraid not," Terra said, shaking her head.

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd seen somebody dressed like that," Key agreed.

"No, we haven't," Saylee said quietly. "But if we do see them… rest assured, you'll hear about it."

"What about you?" Looker asked, looking at the remaining two.

Dawn glanced at Lucas, who shook his head. "No, we haven't seen anyone," she said finally.

Looker nodded. "Incidentally, you are Trainers, yes? Perhaps you can make use of this?" he said, pulling out a pocket-sized screen. He held it out to show them and let them get a better look at it. "That Vs. Recorder, it is a nifty device for recording a match. I obtained it because it is quite popular these days. But myself, I do not do Pokémon battling very often." He smiled encouragingly when Lucas reached out to take it. "It will be in better hands with you."

"Thank you," Lucas said slowly, smiling back. Looker blinked, apparently taking note of something. A couple seconds later, his eyes widened with a kind of sudden understanding.

He took the boy's free hand and leaned down slightly, carefully placing Lucas' hand over his own heart, before returning the gesture and using his other hand and touching the boy's chest. Lucas gave him a confused stare, but Looker simply looked him in the eye and smiled softly. "We are the same," the officer breathed. Dawn looked ready to interject, but paused as the Lucas' face lit up and he and Looker nodded at each other.

"Also, I have a request!" Looker said, straightening again and abruptly returning to the previous conversation. "If you were to see me again, I ask that you not talk to me, for I am on duty." He paused and thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "Actually, yes, yes, you may speak to me. You must." Key snorted and giggled, much to the officer's confusion. "Ah—Not because I am lonely, no, no!" he insisted quickly, visibly getting a little flustered. "You must inform me of bad guys! You must inform me of any happenings!" Although by that point Lucas was also giggling, earning a mild pouting face that suggested they were faced with someone that was secretly four instead of someone who looked in his forties.

"We will," Saylee promised seriously. "So you're only here in Sinnoh searching for these green-haired people? They're the only criminals Interpol is looking for at the moment?"

"In Sinnoh, yes," Looker said with a nod. "Anyway, there appears to be no one shady in this Jubilife City. I shall therefore take my investigation elsewhere. But, my friend, I suggest you remain vigitant!" He saluted and hurried off.

"What a peculiar human," Caelin commented.

"What was he talking about?" Dawn inquired, looking at Lucas. The boy didn't give her an answer, just grinning brightly.

"What's with his accent?" Key asked. "Well, no, I mean, his accent sounds like Ledah's, but his grammar is pretty wonky."

"He's not from the Fairlands," Saylee explained. "Fairlan isn't his first language. I asked him about it when I was working with him on a theft case a couple of years ago. He mentioned that his wife is Johton... He doesn't believe in mixing his job and his personal life, though, so he never introduced her to me. I've never run into him when he's off-duty, so I've never really gotten to know the guy. I didn't even know his name isn't actually Looker…"

"If he's not looking for Archie, does that mean that Interpol doesn't know he's here?" Key asked.

"I don't know…" Saylee said thoughtfully. "Possibly they're aware, but he isn't because it's not his case. I doubt the police station has any more information than he does."

"Great… so no leads," Key sighed.

"If there aren't any leads, I'd like to suggest that we go visiting," Saylee said, reading a street map on her pokégear. "East of here is Oreburgh. It's already past dark now, and we're probably going to have to camp overnight on the way there…"

"What's in Oreburgh?" Key asked.

"One of the Sinnoh gyms," Saylee explained. "Its leader happens to be my little brother."

"Wait, really?" Dawn said excitedly. "That's so cool!"

"You are an elder sister, Sar?" Caelin asked curiously. "Tell me, who is your family heir, you or he?"

"Oh, neither of us are heir to anything much," Saylee laughed. "Our cousin Lucy is heir to the headship of the Pryce family. I've beaten her in battle before, so I could claim it from her, but I'm not really interested. Silver probably could've taken over our stepfather Byron's gym someday, but he doesn't like being given stuff much. He likes to prove his own strength. He's… hmm, turning fourteen in Honua."

"And already a gym leader? Cool!" Key said, impressed. "Right, then! How about we all go find dinner and then find somewhere to crash for the night before leaving for Oreburgh?"

"We agree," Caelin said. "A gym sounds an ideal place to hone our strength."

{}

{}

 _Happy birthday to me, though I'm now 23, I'm still playing Pokémon, happy birthday to me :P_

 _Also, seventeen days until I'm in Switzerland with the fabulous Key-chan! :D While I'm there, we're going to stream a very special nuzlocke with commentary :D (Links will primarily go up on the tumblr, sayleeofkanto, but I should be posting two chapters there, on the 4_ _th_ _and 11_ _th_ _, so expect more details in chapters 5 and 6 :D)_

 _By the way, Looker saying "be vigitant!" isn't a typo, it's just a little injoke because in the_ Much Ado About Nothing _oneshot, he was Verges :P_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Sally. Species: Shinx. Nature: Naïve. Ability: Intimidate. Acquired: Route 202_

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Leo. Species: Shinx. Nature: Lax. Ability: Intimidate. Acquired: Route 202_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Chimchar, Bob the Bidoof, Sally the Shinx_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Starly, Leo the Shinx_


	4. Chapter 3

_Saylee—Pokémon: 3 Deaths: 1_

 _Key—Pokémon: 3 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 27_ _th_ _, 7:15 pm}_

 _{Route 203}_

Most of the route to Oreburgh was a well-worn footpath along grassy slopes. The day was clear, if cold, but it was comfortable enough so long as Saylee, Key and their Pokémon kept walking, which—aside from a stop for lunch—they did until sunset, when they stopped to eat dinner and pitch camp by a small, crystal-clear lake. The grass was still frosty where it was shaded by the trees, but at least the water hadn't frozen over. Doing her arm exercises was a little tougher for Saylee in the cold air, at least until Caelin made a point of entirely coincidentally sitting against her advisor's right side while the princess waited for her food.

 _She's pompous, but she genuinely cares,_ Saylee thought, slowly flexing her fingers in the warm air around the little fire-type. _She could make a good Fire Lord._

"Your dinner, Princess," Terra said, toddling over to Caelin with a plate with the princess' favourite flavour of poffin roll and a couple of spicy berries.

"Our thanks, Terra," Caelin said, taking the plate and beginning to eat. Terra returned to get her own bowl of salad from Key.

"You guys are so formal, it's weird," Leo commented.

"Duh," Sally said, stealing some of his berries. "She's a _Princess_."

"Hey, get your own food!" Leo yelped, jumping at her. The two began to play-fight. While they were distracted, Bob plodded over and started eating their dinner.

"Ceez, what kind of royal guard are these kids?" Stan complained.

"You're not so old yourself," Key pointed out with a smile.

"You'll get stronger," Saylee promised. "We all will. I just wish I could have someone like Skye or Mary or Tobias here until then, to protect you…" She trailed off at the sound of music. It was faint and warbling, but pleasant, and lingered in the air.

"What pleasant music over dinner!" Caelin exclaimed. "Stan, find us this excellent musician!"

"Sure," Stan said, grabbing his last berry and flying off.

"Wow, it _is_ nice music, isn't it," Sally said, pinning Leo and perking up her ears to listen to the music. It stopped a moment later, replaced by sounds of faint conversation.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, before pushing Sally off of him and going back to his dinner. "Hey, where's my _food_?!"

"Dunno," Bob said, straight-faced. "Maybe Sally ate it, huh?"

"Sally!" Leo yelled, attacking her again.

"Calm down, both of you!" Terra snapped. "Here comes Stan…"

Stan flew towards them, holding something brown and wriggling in his talons. Something tiny and green was sitting on his back.

"Don't eat me! Don't eat me!" the little brown one was screeching repeatedly.

"Set her down, Stan!" Saylee ordered. " _Gently_. You're terrifying her!"

"Our apologies, minstrel," Caelin said as Stan let the round brown-and-cream Pokémon down. "We did not intend for you to be harmed."

"I'm not getting eaten?" the little brown bug said, relaxing visibly. She reminded Saylee something of a Ledyba in shape, but according to her Pokédex, the little Pokémon was a Kricketot, a bug famous for their musical abilities. The display switched to _Budew_ when a little green Pokémon with a round, yellow face hopped down from Stan's back.

"Hey, you're a _Turtwig_!" the Budew said excitedly, waving the green bud on top of her head at Terra. The twisted bud could uncurl and split entirely apart to reveal some kind of red flower bud nestled inside. "Look, Kel! A Turtwig!"

"My name is Terra," Terra introduced herself. "And this is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet."

"A princess? It's an honour," Kel said, lowering her antennae respectfully. "What can I do for you?"

"We enjoyed your music greatly," Caelin said. "We wish for you to be our minstrel."

"A royal minstrel?" Kel gasped. "They say that if you play at the court on Mt Coronet, every Pokémon in the country can hear it!"

"Do it, Kel!" the Budew encouraged her, hopping up and down excitedly

"Once we are Fire Lord, you will play for the world from our court," Caelin promised. "So you are agreeable?"

"Yes, of course!" Kel said excitedly, or rather _sang_ —the Kricketot's voice grew more melodious the happier she became.

"Hey, can I come too?" the little Budew asked, trotting up to Caelin.

"And who are you, little one?" Caelin asked, smiling gently at the tiny Pokémon.

"I'm Basma," she declared. "If you're going to travel, can I come?"

"You can come with me," Key offered. "I'm Terra's trainer. You'd like to train with Terra, wouldn't you?"

"Yay!" Basma said excitedly, hopping into her arms. "Thanks, miss, um…"

"Key," Key giggled. "The Starly is Stan. Those two Shinx are called Leo and Sally. The Bidoof is Bob."

"And I'm Sar Saylee," Saylee introduced herself. "I'm Princess Caelin's trainer and advisor. You'll be training with me, Kel."

"Splendid!" Caelin declared. "We will train beginning tomorrow. For now, it is dark, and we must not stray from the fire."

"It's only eight, why is it pitch-black already?" Key grumbled.

"Because it does that up here," Saylee said, rolling out her sleeping bag. "Let's get warm, then we can use my 'dex to read up on Kricketot and Budew."

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 8:09 am_ }

{ _Oreburgh Gate_ }

The retinue headed into the Oreburgh Gate shortly before dawn the next morning, when there was just enough predawn light for them to make their way safely along the path. The cave was strung with bright miner's lights, allowing them to locate it in the steep hillside by the glow from the cave mouth.

"I don't like winter," Basma complained. "There's not enough sun! How'm I supposed to bloom like this?"

"You'll just have to wait for spring, won't you?" Terra said. Basma was riding on the Turtwig's back, leaning against her sprout. Caelin was on Bob's back next to them. Sally and Leo were leading, with Kel sitting on Sally's back and singing while Stan sat on Leo's and watched the path ahead with his keen eyes.

"Something's going on up ahead," Stan reported.

"What is it?" Saylee asked, looking up the path. She realized that several of the lights had blown out ahead, creating a patch of darkness. Something was moving in the dark, but it was hard to make out.

There was a sharp screech and another light blew out. Key screamed as she was showered in glass from the bulb.

"Key!" Saylee yelled, running over to her friend. "Guys, be on your guard, it could be a strong electric-type! Key, are you okay?"

"I'm fine…. I think I cut my hand," Key said, giving the bleeding cut a lick.

"It's not an electric-type," Sally said, peering into the darkness.

"Yeah, that wasn't an electrical surge," Leo agreed.

"Well, if it's not electricity, I'm going to see what it is," Stan said, spreading his wings. No sooner had he taken off, however, than he was knocked out of the air. Saylee ran over to him and found that he had been knocked down by an unconscious Zubat, who was twitching and glowing pink.

"This is psychic power!" Saylee gasped, picking up the Zubat so Stan could get up again. She caught the Zubat in a pokéball; whatever the psychic attack was, it wasn't stopping.

"We must light this tunnel!" Caelin demanded. Her tail flame flared, but her small tail wasn't enough. "Sally, Leo, what can you do?"

"You can spark, right?" Key said. The two Shinx nodded and began to fire sparks of electricity randomly into the tunnel, lighting it up in bright bursts. There was a cry of pain as one of the sparks hit something.

"Is that a _Psyduck_?" Saylee said, turning her Pokégear flashlight on the plump yellow Pokémon that was curled up on the ground, clutching its head. It gave another squawk of pain and another light blew out.

"What is it and what is it doing?!" Key yelped, startled.

"Psyduck have dangerous psychic headaches," Saylee said, stepping tentatively in the direction of the sick Pokémon. She ducked as another light blew, showering glass all over her. Her thick coat and warm hat protected her from the worst of it, but just one stray shard of glass or spark in the right place... "Sally, Leo, we're going to have to knock it out to stop it. Use Spark!" The two Shinx began to direct their electricity at the Psyduck.

"Sar, we must demand that we see this poor creature to a clinic immediately," Caelin ordered as the Psyduck collapsed when struck by the electrical sparks. "His pain must be seen to."

"Yeah… damn, I used my last pokéball catching that Zubat," Saylee cursed, patting her pockets.

"I got you," Key said, throwing a pokéball at the barely conscious Psyduck. It didn't resist capture.

"Very good," Caelin said. "We must make haste to Oreburgh."

"If we return all of you, we can run," Saylee said. Caelin nodded, and the humans returned everyone to their pokéballs.

"You have the light, lead the way," Key said. Saylee nodded, directing the beam at the tunnel floor ahead of them and starting to run. A few Zubat flew at their heads, but the Pokémon were young and weak and the girls easily managed to duck them and keep running. Saylee switched off the light when they rounded a corner and found themselves faced with functioning lights again.

"Nearly—ooft!" Saylee gasped as she ran out of the tunnel mouth and collided at full speed with someone trying to run into the tunnel. She was knocked flat on her ass. "Oww…"

"Oh, hey, I'm sorry!" the lanky blond kid that she'd run into babbled. He was wearing a surprisingly light orange-and-white jumper and a green scarf that swayed constantly as he bounced nervously on the spot. "Really really sorry! Are you okay?" He held out his hand to pull her to her feet.

"Thanks," Saylee said, pulling herself up. "Sorry, wasn't watching where I was going…"

"Me neither," the kid said proudly. "I'm too excited! I just got my first gym badge!" He proudly puffed up his chest, patting the gleaming black-and-gold badge pinned to his jumper.

"You beat Si—Roark? Well done," Saylee said, with feeling. "Is he in his gym right now?"

"Nah, he went down the mine after our battle!" the kid said, pulling a face. "Anyway, sorry to run into you. Gotta dash! I've just gotta show my friends!" He charged off down the tunnel.

"…Three," Saylee muttered, watching him go.

"Say what?" Key asked, staring at her friend in confusion.

"He's an avatar too," Saylee said, frowning. "Three kids here…"

"Oh…" Key said, eyes widening. "Wow. I mean, what is he, fourteen?" She grinned wickedly. "And taller than you…"

"Shut up," Saylee grumbled. "Let's go get these Pokémon healed."

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 12:00 pm_ }

{ _Oreburgh City_ }

"So I thought you said your brother's name is Silver?" Key asked while they waited on the Zubat and the Psyduck being healed.

"Roark's his birth name," Saylee explained, "but he doesn't like it much. He's stuck with it for official reasons, but he tends to ask people he likes to call him Silver, which admittedly isn't a lot of people. He could get it legally changed, but he doesn't particularly want to yet."

"Here you go," the nurse said, handing their Pokémon to them. "If your Psyduck experiences any more psychic headaches in the next few days, bring him back for a checkup, okay?"

"Sure thing," Key said, accepting the Psyduck's pokéball with a smile. "C'mon, let's take them outside and meet them!"

Once they'd moved outside of the boundaries of the town again, they first released Caelin and Terra to greet the new Pokémon before Saylee released the Zubat.

"That feels better," the little blue Pokémon said, stretching her wings. "Oh, wait…" she looked up at Key and Saylee. "Did you catch me?"

"We captured you in order to carry you safely to be healed," Caelin explained. "You will be freed if you wish, but first, would you not consider joining our royal guard? Your night vision abilities would be invaluable."

"Royal guard?" the Zubat said, flicking her ears curiously. "You're royalty?"

"She is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet," Terra explained. "I am Terra. And you are?"

"I'm Zoe," the Zubat said, bobbing her head. "It's really cool to meet one of the rulers of the mountain!"

"Not yet," Caelin said calmly. "But one day, we will be Fire Lord."

"Woooow," Zoe said, sounding excited. "I'm in! This sounds cool! So, who're the humans? Our trainers? Do princesses have trainers?"

"Well, apparently I'm her chief advisor," Saylee said with a smile. "Call me Saylee. This is Key. I'll take good care of you, Zoe. I've raised a Zubat before. She even evolved into a Crobat!" Zoe perked up excitedly.

"You've raised _everything_ before," Key said, rolling her eyes. "C'mon, I want to meet this Psyduck!"

When Key released the Psyduck, however, it immediately grabbed its head and started wailing in pain again.

"Another headache?" Key gasped, slapping her hands over her ears.

"This is not normal…" Saylee said with a wince. Something heated up sharply against her hip. _Something on my dreamcatcher's reacting_? she realized, looking down at her bag and opening the side pocket. Diana's pearl was glowing and rattling against the red scale.

"What is that?!" Caelin asked, yelling over the Psyduck's cries. "What is causing this?!"

"It _is_ a forced power signal!" Saylee gasped, pulling off her gloves so that she could untie the pearl from the dreamcatcher. The string was just long enough to be tied around the Psyduck's neck, and the panicked water-type calmed down the moment she did so.

"Oh, that's better…" he gasped, clutching at the cracked, dark-blue pearl. "What is this?"

"A pearl from a Dragonair," Saylee said, looking at Caelin, Terra and Zoe, all of whom were staring at the Psyduck but were in no visible pain themselves. "Well, I don't think a _pearl_ is strictly what it is, but whatever… do any of you hear anything at all? A kind of whining buzz…?"

"Not a thing," Caelin said, bewildered. "What on earth is going on?"

"Key, I need to talk to Stan," Saylee said. Key nodded and released her Starly. "Stan, you lived near Lake Verity. Have you ever seen a red Gyarados?"

"Sure," Stan said with a nod. "A bunch were going berserk in Lake Verity a while back… League humans caught 'em and took 'em somewhere, though."

"Did you hear any odd sounds at the time?" Saylee asked urgently.

"Aside from the roaring of two dozen angry Gyarados?" Stan asked, tipping his head to one side.

"Like… excuse me, what's your name?" Saylee asked the Psyduck.

"Philon," he mumbled, clutching the pearl. "The noise you described, the whining buzz… I started hearing that several hours ago. It was so _loud_ …"

"Anything like that, ever?" Saylee asked Stan.

"Nope," Stan said, shaking his head. "Although… come to think of it, in their more coherent moments, the Gyarados might have been raging about a noise… I dunno, it's not like anybody was getting too close to them. They were _angry Gyarados_."

"Seriously, what _is_ the deal with a red Gyarados?" Key said, nonplussed. "You said that forced-evolution signal made it happen before?"

Saylee held up the red scale that the items on her dreamcatcher were tied to, showing it to Zoe and Philon. "I had one myself before. His name was Gabriel. He was red because his evolution was prematurely forced, and he didn't evolve quite right… some of the necessary changes didn't go down, you know?" She stroked the smooth scale gently. "I've tried reading up on Pokémon evolution, but there's a lot of biology and chemistry to it that I don't really understand, and that's setting aside the parts of it that nobody really understands, such as where the power comes from… anyway, you know what evolution is, right?"

"A growth spurt, basically," Key said. "But there are a lot of changes, depending on species…"

"Monferno crests manifest quite abruptly," Caelin added. "Also, though we grow quite significantly prior to evolution, there is a surge in muscle mass."

"Chimchar and Turtwig, from what I've seen of their evolutions in the Pokédex, are 'gradual' evolvers," Saylee explained. "They progress steadily from one stage to the next, with a couple of brief surges. Magikarp are different; their evolutions are powerful surges, where they gain huge amounts of mass and almost their entire body reforms. Magikarp are actually some of the worst surge evolvers. It's thought that the sudden and tremendous change in body and brain mass is why they're so angry and violent…"

"We think we understand," Caelin said thoughtfully. "The evolution of Magikarp is unstable at the best of times. Should it be forced…"

"It's easy to force, and goes wrong even more easily," Saylee said with a nod. "Gabriel was…" She clenched her fists uncomfortably. "Mentally, he wasn't… too stable. I trained a Gyarados before him, Miranda. She was perfectly intelligent and in control of her power, even when she was in a foul Gyarados mood. Gabriel had problems with his short-term memory and attention, and he… well, he didn't have much control. He had powerful, violent mood swings. He was also kind of undersized for a Gyarados. The forced evolution messed up his brain chemistry and physicality. At the Lake of Rage, however, he was the only one who evolved."

"Stan, you said that dozens evolved at Lake Verity," Terra gasped. "So it is a similar signal with greater power?"

"And more precision," Saylee said. "At the Lake of Rage, the signal bothered _all_ Pokémon… and on Chrono Island, for that matter. But Stan didn't hear anything, so it was specifically targeting Magikarp. And nobody but Philon here has heard anything, so now it's targeting Psyduck…"

"Thank you for this pearl," Philon said feverently. "That sound really hurt."

"So were your psychic powers!" Zoe said reproachfully. "You threw me all around the cave!"

"Oh, I'm really sorry!" Philon gasped, reaching with one hand for the little Zubat. "I didn't know I'd hurt you! Can I make it up to you?"

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Zoe sighed, allowing him to pet her ears. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

"But Sar, why would your Dragonair's pearl protect Philon from that signal?" Caelin asked.

"Because Diana died while trying to destroy the generator creating the signal at the Lake of Rage," Saylee said softly. "Her pearl heated up in my bag when Philon had his second attack. I guess it set her off."

"Wow…" Key breathed, staring at the pearl. "Philon, do you want to hang around with us for a while?"

"Oh, sure," Philon said, clutching the pearl. "I don't want to take this off, but I wouldn't want to steal your pearl, either. Nice to meet you all."

"It is a pleasure to meet you too, Philon," Terra said. "I am Terra, and this is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet. If you will be travelling with us, you will be expected to serve in her royal guard."

"I, uh, don't know how good I'll be at that," Philon said nervously, "but I'll give it a shot."

"Well, you can start by helping us get into the mines," Saylee said, looking up at the street map at the entrance to the city that highlighted various landmarks such as the museum and the mine entrance. "Silver says it's not too dangerous, but some of the Geodude in there can get a little belligerent. You know water gun, right?"

"Sure," Philon said, spitting a jet of water at a stone that, while looking like a harmless jet of water, cracked the rock.

"Then let's go!" Key said, scooping up Terra. Saylee stooped to let Caelin get onto one shoulder while Zoe settled on the other, so light that Saylee barely felt her there at all as they started walking through the City.

{}

{}

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Kel. Species: Kricketot. Nature: Lax. Ability: Shed Skin. Acquired: Route 203._

 _Name: Zoe. Species: Zubat. Nature: Careful. Ability: Inner Focus. Acquired: Oreburgh Gate._

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Basma. Species: Budew. Nature: Docile. Ability: Natural Cure. Acquired: Route 204_

 _Name: Philon. Species: Psyduck. Nature: Careful. Ability: Cloud Nine. Acquired: Oreburgh Gate_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Chimchar, Bob the Bidoof, Sally the Shinx, Kel the Kricketot, Zoe the Zubat_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Starly, Leo the Shinx, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck_


	5. Chapter 4

_Saylee—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 1_

 _Key—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 1:15 pm}_

 _{Oreburgh Mines, Oreburgh City}_

"Zoe, hi!" a Zubat said, flying down from the ceiling of the Oreburgh Mine to sit next to Zoe on Saylee's shoulder, casually avoiding an ember from Caelin at the sight of a Zubat flying towards her advisor. "What're you doing riding around on a human?"

"When did I become a park bench?" Saylee objected. The Zubat ignored her.

"Hi, Zoran!" Zoe said brightly. "I'm a royal scout now! This human is Saylee, and on her other shoulder there is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet! She's going to be _Fire Lord_!"

"Really? Cool!" Zoran said excitedly, slowing waving his ears and grinning. "Hi, all!"

"Greetings, Zoran," Caelin said, looking less suspicious that the new Zubat was here for anybody's blood. She looked down to their vanguard. "Terra, Philon, how are you doing?"

"Perfectly fine, my lady," Terra said, knocking a Geodude down with her Razor Leaf. "Between us, we can easily handle these creatures…" Sally and Leo were being left in their pokéballs due to the mine featuring far more Geodude than Zubat, while Basma sat snuggled in Key's scarf. The mines were nearly empty, but the occasional miner that they did pass by had indicated that the retiring leader, Ben Lune, had gone into the mines to deal with some problematic wild Pokémon, and Silver, as the apprentice, had gone with him.

 _Well, Pokémon do automatically trust Silver, so I guess they've been successful,_ Saylee thought as they started down another empty passage. _It's pretty quiet down here…_

The passageway suddenly shook under their feet. Saylee shrieked as boulders came crashing down in front of them, stumbling backwards and staring up at the ceiling to try and spot where the next rocks would fall. The entire cavern was caving in just where they'd been about to walk.

"Terra! Philon!" Key screamed, looking around frantically for her Pokémon.

"TERRA!" Basma cried, hoping out of Key's scarf and running to where the rest of the tunnel had been. Key scooped up the little Budew before she reached the still-precarious pile of rocks, though nothing else was falling.

"We're fine!" Terra called from the other side of the fresh blockage. "Philon and I aren't hurt! We're okay!"

"We are grateful," Caelin called, sighing in relief. "Stay where you are. Perhaps we can move these boulders…"

"Bob knows Rock Smash," Saylee said, releasing the Bidoof. "Uh, Bob, think you can do anything with these boulders?"

"Yup," Bob said, smashing at the rocks with his huge front teeth, which was surprisingly effective. He made a decent dent, but it would clearly take him time to dig through. He glanced around uncertainly as a roar echoed down the tunnel.

"Oh, no!" Zoran said, flicking his ears around and hunching down. "It's Obelle!"

"And who is Obelle?" Caelin asked, looking back at the source of the roar.

"Obelle?" Zoe said nervously. "Why's she angry?"

"Who's Obelle?" Saylee asked, trying to think where she'd heard that kind of roar before.

"I don't know why she's upset, but she really, really is," Zoran said, tucking his ears under his wings. "We should go…"

"We can't go anywhere until we get Terra and Philon through!" Key objected. "Who's Obelle?"

The ground shook again and then, further up the tunnel that they'd come from, the ground cracked and split as a huge Onix burst through.

"She's Obelle!" Zoran screeched. Saylee reached up to hold onto him and Zoe with her good hand, backing away towards the wall of fallen rock. Key scurried backwards as well as the Onix glared at them. "Obelle! Please don't hurt us, we—"

"You're with _humans_!" Obelle snapped, glaring at Saylee and Key. "I'm sick of humans! You broke the arrangement!"

"Arrangement? What arrangement?" Saylee asked guardedly.

"What arrangement indeed?!" Obelle cried, raising her tail. "That's _IT_!"

"Hey!" Bob yelled, charging forwards and smashing into Obelle before she could hit anybody with her tail. He left a significant crack in her hide. "We didn't do anything to you!"

"Bob, no!" Saylee yelled, fumbling for his pokéball. Obelle roared angrily and swept her tail around, knocking him backwards into the chasm left behind her. "BOB!"

"How DARE you!" Caelin screamed, leaping off of Saylee's shoulder. Saylee tried to grab her leg to stop her, but the Princess' leg expanded noticeably under her fingers. Caelin slipped through Saylee's fingers and punched Obelle in the forehead, knocking the stone titan cold.

"Princess!" Zoe gasped, flicking her ears rapidly.

Saylee ran towards Caelin and crouched next to the now significantly taller princess as she glared down at her fallen foe. "No more riding on my shoulder," Saylee told Caelin, pulling out her Pokédex and flipping it open. "Congratulations on becoming a Monferno, though."

"Thank you, but now is not the time," Caelin growled, striding past the unconscious Onix towards the gap in the mine floor. "Zoe, we require your scouting abilities. Fly down there and locate Bob."

"I'll go with you," Zoran announced, following Zoe down into the chasm. Caelin turned back to Obelle, cracking her knuckles.

"Caelin, no," Saylee said sharply, stepping in between Caelin and her prey. "Let's find out what's going on first."

"She may have murdered Bob," Caelin snapped. "And that is _Princess_ Caelin, Sar."

"Obelle!" a gravelly voice called. Saylee looked up to see a Geodude floating towards them, wringing his hands. "You got her!" he sighed, looking over the unconscious Onix. "Thank goodness!"

"Thank goodness?" Saylee asked curiously.

"She's been in, eh, a real rage, and we really needed to, eh, calm her down, y'know?" the Geodude said, circling Obelle. "I guess that'll, eh, do for now…"

"If you are grateful, then do us the favour of removing these boulders," Caelin said, pointing at the rocks separating the group from Philon and Terra. "We must be reunited with our attendants."

"Oh, sure," the Geodude said, heading towards the boulders and beginning to haul them aside. "The, eh, miners are coming this way right now. Mister Roark's, eh, gonna want to talk to Obelle, y'know?"

"Wait until we talk to him and Obelle," Saylee said to Caelin, putting a hand on the Monferno's shoulder. "Please, Princess. Act rationally."

"How can you be rational?" Caelin snarled, throwing off Saylee's hand. "Now and when Sean was killed?"

"Practise," Saylee said grimly. "But that's why you appointed me your advisor, right? To _advise_ you?"

"…yes," Caelin sighed, nodding.

"There they are!" Key said suddenly, jumping to her feet and waving. "OVER HERE!"

Saylee looked up at the pair of miners who came running towards them, smiling at the shorter of the pair. "Silver!" she called, standing up and trotting over to the edge of the chasm. "Good to see you!"

"Saylee!" Silver said, grinning at her and waving. "Trust you to take down Obelle. We'll get this gap closed up so you can get past—"

"Wait a minute, please!" Saylee asked, throwing her hands up as Silver reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokéball that she recognized as Alec's. "A couple of Zubat when down there to look for my Bidoof. Obelle knocked him down there…"

"What?" Silver said, his face falling.

The other miner, a tall, surprisingly lanky man with tanned skin and long silver hair knelt by the edge of the gap and peered down it. "That's a long drop," he reported. "She's tunnelled straight up from a long way down…"

"My lady!" Terra cried. The Geodude had cracked through the rock wall, and Terra and Philon came running through. "Oh! My lady, you evolved!"

"Not in time," Caelin said sorrowfully. She clenched her fists as Zoe and Zoran came flying out of the chasm.

"I'm sorry," Zoe said sadly. "We couldn't find him… we went a _long_ way down…"

"He couldn't have survived if he'd fallen even half as far as we flew," Zoran reported. Terra gasped loudly, Philon shuddered and closed his eyes, Key put one hand over her mouth and gripped Saylee's arm with the other, and Caelin snarled and turned to Obelle.

"Princess, I will return you for your own good if you don't stop," Saylee said sharply, despite how satisfying she knew it would be to watch the furious princess let rip. "Silver, what is going on with this Onix? I thought you guys had a deal with the local Pokémon?"

"We did, but early this morning Obelle went berserk and we don't know why," Silver sighed, releasing Alec and glancing uncomfortably at the darkness where Bob had vanished. "Close it up," he ordered his Alakazam, who nodded and raised his spoons. The ground rumbled as the chasm slid closed. "I'll get Tyra to ask her some questions," Silver said with a slightly evil grin. "She's scared shitless of Tyra!" He released his hulking Feraligatr, who strode up to Obelle, nodding to Saylee as she passed. Silver was about to follow her, but Saylee grabbed and hugged him first. "Hey!"

"You knew I was going to do that," Saylee said, straightening his glasses for him with a little smile. "Okay, you're as tall as me, you can stop growing now."

"Make me, shortarse," Silver said, grinning at her, then looking over her shoulder. "This is Key, right?"

"Key, this is my brother Silver," Saylee said, turning to her best friend and indicating her brother and his Pokémon in turn. "His Alakazam Alec, and his Feraligatr Tyra. Guys, this is Key, Champion of Hoenn."

"Cool… Ben, this is my sister," Silver said, glancing back at his boss, who was kneeling by the former gap in the ground. "Ben's the leader for now."

"I'm still here, kid," Ben said mildly, standing up and dusting himself off. "You've still got more than a year of apprenticeship ahead of you. Nice to meet you, miss," he said, shaking Saylee and Key's hands. "Either of you ladies planning to challenge the gym?"

"Well, we're not doing the gym challenge," Saylee explained, "but I _have_ to see how Silver's coming along as a rock trainer!"

"Sweet, I haven't had a real battle in ages," Silver said with a smirk. "Just gym battles, and I've gotta stick to rules about what kind of power levels I can use… it sucks, I got beat just this morning."

"And yet, you're still here being gym leader," Saylee said proudly. "Sorry, but we don't have any of our Pokémon with us, just the Pokémon we've gotten since we got here… meet Princess Caelin, Terra, Zoe, Zoran and Philon, by the way."

"Zoran and Zoe I know," Silver said, nodding to them. "Hey, Gimli," he added to the Geodude. "Princess, huh? Should I curtsey?"

"Now is not the time for your _jests_ ," Caelin snarled. "This is _not_ the proper demeanour for standing by Bob's _grave_!"

"Ceez, calm down, willya?" Silver said, peering down at Silver. She froze when she locked eyes with the apparent human. "Yeah. Look, will have a funeral for him later if you want, but right now we've got shit to do. This is the first time I've seen my sister in like a _year_ so yeah, I'm happy about that, but I'm also just as pissed as you at Obelle, so the first thing we've gotta do is find out why the hell she thinks it's okay to go raging around collapsing tunnels on people. And then give her shit for it. So will you stop giving _me_ shit and save it for her?" He leaned a little closer to her and said, more quietly, "if it helps any, I felt his life go out and it was fast. He'll already be on his way to getting born again, and dying like that, like he didn't deserve, is _definitely_ points towards a good new life. Okay?"

"…As you say," Caelin said, her flaring tail settling somewhat. Saylee knew that backing down was not in the princess' nature, but if there was anybody that she'd recognize as a higher power…

"Someday you're gonna have to tell me how the hell you do that, kid," Ben said, shaking his head. He looked at Saylee. "Seriously, has he always been able to do that? He can get _any_ Pokémon, no matter how pissed off, to calm down and listen to him inside of three words. What's with that?"

"Talk about it later, Obelle's waking up," Tyra called. Ben backed away slightly as the huge Onix shifted. Saylee pulled Caelin back, shooting her a warning glare. Zoe and Zoran fluttered behind them, perching on Key's shoulders.

"You got this, kid?" Ben asked Silver.

Silver nodded. "Obelle," he said, striding up to her. "I thought we had an agreement. Why the fuck are you rampaging around, smashing the tunnels, putting five miners in hospital and killing my sister's Pokémon?"

"Don't you dare accuse _me_ of breaking the agreement," Obelle growled, rearing up. Silver didn't move, but Saylee could imagine the way the gold in his eyes was flaring.

"Bitch, I will Hydro Cannon you back to the Jurassic," Tyra snapped.

Obelle lowered her head submissively, but continued to growl at them. "Got to admit, though," she continued, "I'm surprised that you sent all of those Psyduck instead of sending _her_ to attack me _in my home._ "

"Psyduck?" Silver asked. Key and Saylee glanced sharply at Philon, then quickly stepped in front of him to hide him from Obelle's anger.

"Rampaging through, attacking with water and psychic powers at random!" Obelle raged. "How _dare_ you?"

"None of us own any Psyduck," Ben interjected. Obelle snarled at him.

"Psyduck don't normally live around here," Silver said, folding his arms. "Obelle, we didn't break the agreement. At least, no human living and working in Oreburgh broke it. You really think _I'd_ let them?"

"…No," Obelle said reluctantly. "You wouldn't. But Psyduck _did_ come rampaging through!"

"The Psyduck weren't being directed by anyone," Saylee said, striding over to Obelle. "A radio signal's been driving them mad."

Silver bristled. "A _radio signal_?" he said sharply, clenching his fists.

"Yep," Saylee said, catching his eye and nodding. His frown darkened. Saylee stepped aside as a wave of heat blew from her half-brother, hoping he could keep it under control enough to not start forming purple fire. "Listen, Obelle, those Psyduck were running wild on pain and confusion from a radio signal that was hurting them badly, understand? Nobody was attacking you. There was no need for this!"

"It's true!" Philon said, running up next to Saylee. Obelle growled at the sight of him, but he didn't back down, clutching Diana's pearl close to him. "I felt it myself! I really hurt Zoe…" He looked apologetically at the Zubat. "…and I didn't know I was doing it! It's not their fault…"

"Is that so?" Obelle said grudgingly. She looked to Silver, who nodded, folding his arms. "Well… My sincerest apologies, then. I don't usually help with your mining, but considering what I've done… it's a poor attempt to apologise, but I'm willing to help repair the tunnels, and I will ensure that the other free Pokémon in this area assist."

"And what reparation will you make for Bob's death?" Caelin snapped. Obelle tipped her giant head to the side as she peered down at the Monferno. "Don't look confused. The Bidoof you knocked to his death!"

"Ah…" Obelle at least had the grace to look guilty. "I'm sorry. I was angry…"

"That is no excuse," Caelin snarled, crossing her arms. "He was our attendant. You owe his life to us."

"And who are you?" Obelle demanded.

"This is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet," Terra said, stepping up next to her princess. "She will be Fire Lord on the mountain soon."

"I understood that the mountain had a Fire Lord already," Obelle said sceptically. "Fire Lord Indra is said to be quite powerful."

"Our brother's reign will last only until we evolve again," Caelin said sweetly. "Once we are an Infernape, he will be booted from his throne and all the way down our mother mountain." She cracked her knuckles. "Unless you are willing to offer suitable reparations for Bob's death, we will Mach Punch you until you are _dust_ , is that understood?"

"No need for that," Obelle said, bowing her head further. "Fine. I can't give you your Bidoof's life back, but I can offer you my life and service. If you ever need my services for anything—preferably tunnelling, but I consider myself not useless in battle—I will come to your aid, and as I am leader of the free Pokémon of the Oreburgh Mines, so will they."

"We will hold you to that," Caelin said, turning and walking away from Obelle.

"Roark, we can handle this now, if you and your sister want to get out of here," Ben said, releasing a Golem and a couple of Nosepass.

"Thanks, Ben," Silver said. "Tyra, you stay with him, just in case. C'mon, let's get out of here…"

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 2:50 pm_ }

{ _Oreburgh City}_

"Hey, can Zoran come with us?" Zoe asked as they headed out of the mine entrance.

"Yeah, serving in the royal guard sounds pretty cool," Zoran agreed. "Because you are one _badass_ Princess, if you don't mind my saying."

"If you wish to enter into our service, we shall graciously accept," Caelin said. She was walking at Saylee's side and looking unhappy about it. "We shall turn nobody away."

"Great!" Zoe said happily. "It'll be cool to travel together, won't it, Zoran?"

"I'd like to, eh, offer my services too, y'know?" Gimli added, wringing his hands again, which made a grinding noise. "I, eh, well, I feel really bad about Obelle killing your friend, y'know? I'd like to, eh, help, if I can."

"Your strength is commendable," Caelin said with a nod. "We are most happy to have you."

"How many Pokémon do you have now?" Silver said, rolling his eyes. "I mean, seriously. I have something like six teams for different gym challengers and I still think you have more Pokémon than me right now. You know if you guys are travelling trainers, you're only meant to have six, right?"

"I have Zoe, so Zoran could train with you, Key," Saylee suggested. "And Gimli will train with me, sound good?"

There was a distant scream. "That doesn't," Silver said, running off after the scream.

"Silver, _wait_!" Saylee yelled, running after him. Caelin easily ran next to her, carrying Gimli on her shoulders. Zoe and Zoran flew past her too.

A moment later, Key caught up to them, carrying Terra. "I've returned Philon," she said as sparks shot into the air ahead of them.

"Seems like a good idea," Saylee agreed. "Silver, are there any wild electric-types around here?"

"The only electric-type this side of the gate is Mag, and his electricity doesn't look like that," Silver said firmly.

They followed Silver as he pelted through the streets until they were nearly at the Oreburgh Gate, where a couple of police officers were flung backwards by a blast of electricity.

Silver ran up to one who was trying to radio for backup from Jubilife. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded.

"That Luxio's really tough," the officer said as she glared at the black-and-blue Pokémon that was standing in front of the gate, shooting electricity at anyone who got too close. "She's helping the criminal get away!"

"What criminal?" Saylee demanded.

"We got a positive ID on a criminal from Hoenn called Archibald Irving of Team Aqua," the woman reported.

Key gave an unholy shriek. "He was _right here?!_ " she yelled, running towards the gate.

"Back off!" the Luxio yelled, sparking at her. Key ducked. "Nobody gets through until I say they do!"

"Gimli, she can't zap you! Get her!" Saylee ordered. Caelin let go of Gimli and he charged towards the Luxio, tackling her.

"Oh, shit!" the Luxio yelped, rolling aside. She turned and ran up the side of the mountain, vanishing over a rocky ridge.

"C'mon, we've gotta go after her!" Key said desperately, running towards the gate.

"Key, WAIT!" Saylee yelled, running after her. She didn't have to run far. Partway into the gate, the tunnel was caved in. Key kicked at the freshly fallen rocks, screaming in frustration.

"Obelle's been through, it looks like," Saylee sighed. "Key, calm down…"

"We need to go over the mountain, then!" Key said frantically. "We need to follow her, to—"

"Go _over_ the mountain?" Silver said, catching up to them. "Are you insane or just dumb? There's a reason we have a tunnel, and the reason is that going over the mountain is a dumbshit thing to do. Especially since it's the beginning of winter, it's fucking freezing and it's even colder after it gets dark, which, y'know, happens _really early_ this time of year. That Luxray can see just fine in the dark and run crazy fast, but _you_ can't."

"We noticed," Saylee said, grabbing Key's shoulder and dragging her away.

"Lady Key, you're squashing me!" Terra squawked.

"Put Terra down now," Caelin ordered. "Lady Key, be calm!"

"But that Luxio is our only lead to Archie! The man who kidnapped Prince!" Key yelled.

" _What_?!" Terra gasped, pausing in her struggle to get out of Key's crushing grip.

"Regardless, there is nothing that can be done at this moment!" Caelin said sharply. "Terra, we wish for you and Gimli to accompany us back into the tunnels. We must require of Obelle to dig out this tunnel."

"I'll radio down to the other miners," Silver said, brandishing his radio. "They'll sort it out. Just, ceez, stop flipping out already, okay? You're being a freak. Saylee, why is your friend a freak?"

"Remember that tact thing you were getting better at?" Saylee said, putting her arm around Key's shoulders. "C'mon, Key. We'll find Archie's trail tomorrow. We need to take a break, introduce all our Pokémon to each other, explain what happened to Bob, mourn…" She glanced at Silver. "I need to tell you something, too."

{}

{}

 _Sorry this is out a bit late in the day, but it's been a busy Glasgow MCM weekend for me. Got to hug a wookie, hang out with my mates all day in costume and get the fifth volume of_ Twisted Dark _and some other good swag, though, so it's all good._

 _Also, anybody who's into Detective Conan/Magic Kaito: a deeply wonderful human called silverbulletsama has finally subbed_ Sunflowers of Inferno _in English, so tonight I'm going to be watching that with a bottle of wine and liveblogging it on my DCMK blog on tumblr,_ backtodc. _Check it out if that's your thing about 11pm GMT._

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Gimli. Species: Geodude. Nature: Hardy. Ability: Rock Head. Acquired: Oreburgh Mine_

 _Name: Miller. Species: Machop. Nature: Naïve. Ability: No Guard. Acquired: Route 207 (BOXED)_

 _RIP Bob the Bidoof, level 2-8_

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Zoran. Species: Zubat. Nature: Rash. Ability: Inner Focus. Acquired: Oreburgh Mine_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Bob the Bidoof, Sally the Shinx, Kel the Kricketot, Zoe the Zubat, Gimli the Geodude_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Starly, Leo the Shinx, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	6. Chapter 5

_Saylee—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 2_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 4:30pm}_

 _{Oreburgh Gym}_

Key, Saylee and Silver left their Pokémon in Silver's training room to get an early dinner and get to know each other after explaining about Bob's death. Stan, having seen two deaths now, was particularly subdued, and picked silently at his food, and Caelin kept running a finger over her blood oath to Sean. Saylee greeted the rest of Silver's Pokémon, and then she and Key followed Silver in search of their own dinner.

"C'mon, canteen's this way," Silver said, pointing down the corridor. "It's great, free food three times a day or whenever the hell else I want it."

"You're enjoying living with the miners?" Saylee asked, following him down the hall. The floors were tiled and the walls a flat grey, where they were visible under photos and posters; the place had been built as plain and functional, but it had been a home for some of the miners for a very long time, and their families and favourite bands waved at the three of them from the walls.

"It's kind of annoying… they all fuss over my like I'm _their_ little brother or something," Silver grouched. Saylee just grinned. "But the gym leader thing's a pretty sweet job. It's about one of the only jobs you're allowed to get before you're sixteen and it means I don't have to go to school if I don't want to. So long as I do my online assignments I can just spend the day with my Pokémon or down the mines learning stuff from Ben or with fossils…" He shifted uncomfortably and paused, looking around the hallways to make sure nobody but the three of them was around. "I wish we'd found some've Bob's remains. I could've, uh…" He glanced at Key.

"There's no helping it," Saylee sighed. "Besides, remember what happened when you resurrected your Cranidos?"

"That was last year!" Silver said defiantly. "I'm stronger now! I bet I could've done it!"

Saylee gave him a hug. "Thank you," she said, "but you need to be more careful with those powers…"

"What am I missing here?" Key asked, looking from Saylee to Silver.

"Key, remember what I explained to you about avatars?" Saylee said, letting go of Silver and turning to face Key. "Meet my little brother… Ho-oh."

"The firebird god?" Key said, staring at Silver with her eyes practically bugging out of her head. "Oh my god… you said he was a god, but you never said he was one of the BIG ones!"

"He's my little brother, I'm protective," Saylee said, grinning at her friend.

"Half-brother," Silver grumbled, folding his arms defensively. "So she knows?" he asked Saylee.

"The criminals she's looking for on Hoenn's behalf are going to be Groudon and Kyogre," Saylee explained. "Archibald Irving and Maximillion Hyland."

Silver raised an eyebrow. "Huh," he mumbled. "Maybe that's why… Entei tried to track him over the mountain, but for some reason, she couldn't follow his scent at all. Kyogre's a water god, right?"

"That's right," Key said. "Entei…?"

"The Three Legendary Beasts of Johto all obey Ho-oh," Saylee explained. "You think Entei couldn't track him because he's the avatar of a water god?"

"Well, if you're being tracked, you kill your scent trail by going through water, right?" Silver said with a shrug. "If he's got some of the power already or something… I dunno, I'm still learning the god thing." His pupils flared gold for a second. "Huh. Yeah, apparently Lugia doesn't have a scent that the Beasts can track either, so yeah."

"What was with the _eye_ thing?" Key asked, glancing from Saylee to Silver. "Am I the only one who saw that? I did see that, didn't I?"

"Yeah, seems to happen when I'm using powers and stuff," Silver said, straightening his glasses. "I can make Pokémon trust me, make fire, and I _did_ bring a Pokémon back from the dead once!"

"You created a living Cranidos from a fossil," Saylee corrected him. "He doesn't have any memories of millions of years ago. He's a newborn, not the same Pokémon. Anyway, it made you cough blood, damn near gave you an aneurysm and put you in hospital for three months! You're not doing it again, Silver!"

"I'll get the hang of it one day," Silver muttered stubbornly. "I'm getting stronger all the time, y'know…"

Saylee squeezed his shoulder. "I know you are, but you're still a kid," she said gently. "But you _are_ a god too, and as somebody who might know what's going on on the celestial plane, I have to ask: is something going on? In Sinnoh, I mean, because so far I've run into three kids I'm pretty sure are avatars."

"That blond guy from this morning is one of them, right?" Silver said, adjusting his glasses. "I could kinda see it around him… guy had a lot of willpower, I guess. Fought real hard with a stupid little Budew of all things. And he won, which is worse…"

"Yeah," Saylee agreed. "But I'm just trying to figure out _why_. Two avatars came up in Johto because it was the favoured roosting spot of Lugia and Ho-oh, both of whom…"

"Got targeted by those douchebags in Orre," Silver recalled, his eyes flaring gold again, possibly a sign of him accessing Ho-oh's memories. "Those Snagem devices even work on gods, but no energy-matter thingmy works on humans… well, teleportation, yeah, but no capture, storing or changing."

 _Snagem couldn't alter humans in the same way as Pokémon, but not through lack of trying, if what Steven said was true,_ Saylee thought but didn't say. "And it came up in Hoenn because of the rise of the environmental extremists there," Saylee continued. "Could have been at Rayquaza's instigation, after the two avatars in Johto got out alright… I mean, Wally's avatarization was almost immediately after…" She spotted a couple of miners coming around the corner at the end of the hall. Silver nodded and said hi to the two men as they went past, waiting until the pair had gone through a door down the hall before resuming conversation.

"There's all these energy shortages," Silver said thoughtfully. "I mean, Mag's been backup power just fine—Magnezone do _not_ run out of power, it's awesome—but I guess something could be up with the windworks or solar panels or both. There's this new energy company called 'Galactic Energy' advertising all this stuff how they're researching harnessing cosmic energies to create power, but what the hell does that even mean?"

"I don't know," Saylee said, shaking her head. "But be careful about them—they've gotten mixed up in some bad stuff in Kanto and Johto. And I need to warn you about a man with blue hair. He's got a kind of big forehead, eyes that look like he's dead already, a Sneasel, and the moment I saw him my overriding instinct was to snap his neck, which was not even my first instinct the first time I got to meet your mother and I had a pretty good idea of what kind of person she was before I met her."

"Lee thinks she's getting the ability to pre-emptively sense a danger to avatars," Key supplied. "I just think that guy was obviously creepy as hell, even before he killed one of Caelin's friends…"

"So how'd you wind up with a Princess anyway?" Silver asked curiously.

"C'mon, let's get dinner while we talk about it," Saylee said, rubbing her stomach. "I'm _starving._ "

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 4:30pm_ }

{ _Oreburgh Gym}_

"Y'know, before these kids sign up, I think they should know what they're getting into," Stan said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen after introductions had been made and everyone had been informed that Bob was dead and the humans had left the room. Philon, Zoe, Zoran and Gimli all looked up nervously.

"All were witness to Bob's death," Caelin said.

"Yeah, but none of them know about Sean, do they?" Stan argued, looking around the four newcomers as well as Kel, Basma, Sally and Leo. "He died the same day you _met_ him, protecting _you_ from a psycho you wouldn't back down from!"

"Do not speak to the Princess so disrespectfully!" Terra said sharply.

"He is not wrong, Terra," Caelin sighed. "Both Sean and Bob lost their lives in our defence. We can only hope to become a just and mighty Fire Lord in their name. Sean, too, has yet to be avenged." She touched the dried bloodstain on her forehead.

"Why'd you do that to yourself?" Basma asked, twisting her bud nervously. "You bit your thumb this morning and made that bloodstain…"

"She does it every morning," Leo added. "Why _is_ that?"

"We will wear this mark until the blue-haired man is dead and Sean is avenged," Caelin said, clenching her fists. "We knew him but hours. Nevertheless, we owe him that."

"Y'know, it sounds to me like you'd be a pretty cool Fire Lord if you care about your subjects that much," Zoe said meekly.

"Yeah," Gimli agreed. "Lords are often pretty, eh, arrogant, y'know? Like the, eh, little 'mons aren't worth their time."

"Or 'mons outside their species," Zoran added. "But we're all sorts here!"

"The Coronet Fire Lord rules all of the Pokémon on the mountain, not merely the lesser Chimchar and Monferno," Caelin said. "Thus, we must know the needs of all that we may see that they are met."

"Y'know, the hierarchy stuff around here's always weirded me out," Silver's Weavile said, loping over to join them. "I mean, I miss Kanto. That whole country's pretty anarchic, it's great. Never really saw the point of all these Lords, getting the job just 'cause they were born to it, locking out smarter or tougher Pokémon just because they weren't born royal. Sounds dumb as hell to me." She scratched her ear thoughtfully. "Still, I guess you don't _completely_ suck," she allowed. "I mean, you were born royal, but not at the top, so you've still gotta prove yourself, just like the rest of us plebs."

"What Siren isn't saying in so many words," Tyra, Silver's Feraligatr, added, "is that she's having a hard time taking issue with an authority figure who seems to genuinely care about those they have authority over."

"Yeah, I wouldn't use such post words," Siren commented lazily. "You talk too much, big mouth."

"Don't be a bitch," Tyra said, turning around to go back to the pool and "accidentally" whapping Siren in the head with the tip of her tail. Siren snarled and dove after her.

"You can ignore them, they're actually best friends," Silver's Crobat, Zeb, said, flapping over to sit on the perch next to Zoe and Zoran. "I don't get the hierarchy much either, except that it's important to Pokémon here in Sinnoh. So if you've gotta have a boss, it might as well be one you believe in, right?"

"I believe in you, Princess!" Sally said immediately, waving one of her forepaws in the air.

"Then I do too," Leo agreed. "Wait until we tell your sister about fighting for a real princess, huh, Sally?"

"I like Terra, and she likes you," Basma said happily. "So… yeah!"

"I'm grateful to you and your humans for saving my life," Philon said, clutching the pearl.

"Yeah, you've got some good humans with you," Zeb agreed. "Saylee's a good trainer, and… I don't know who Key is, but Saylee likes her, so she must be good. Her last Zubat got to be a Crobat like me, too," he added. Zoe and Zoran grinned excitedly.

"We thank you for your faith," Caelin said, smiling gently. "With the faith of such fine Pokémon, how can we fail?" She looked at Kel. "Kel, would you do us the honour of composing a requiem for Bob and Sean?"

"Of course," Kel said with a nod. "I've got a good idea for one…" She hummed a few random bars, and then began to sing and play, using her antennae and feelers as strings and pipes to join in the haunting melody. Every Pokémon in the room fell silent, watching her play and staring with increasing awe as she began to glow.

Kel rose up, growing taller and more slender, the melody becoming even more elaborate and richly layered as her throat evolved to allow her to simulate the sounds of a whole symphony. There were more than a few tears in the room as the requiem reached its soft, warbling conclusion.

"Wow," Kel said, looking down at herself after a long moment of silence. "I evolved!"

"Thank you, Kel," Caelin said softly. "We thank you all."

{ _Monua 28_ _th_ _, 5:47 pm_ }

{ _Oreburgh Gym}_

"If it wasn't going to get dark already, we could've gone after him…" Key sighed for the dozenth time, staring out of the window at the sinking sun and picking at the last bit of her casserole.

"Yeah, you've said that a lot," Silver said, rolling his eyes. He jumped to his feet. "Okay, you're the Hoenn champ, right? Stop whining and battle me, then!"

"I don't have my championship team with me, though," Key pointed out.

"Yeah, well, if you're a good trainer, you shouldn't suck just 'cause your Pokémon aren't as strong," Silver insisted. "If you do, that just means _you're_ weak, not your Pokémon." Saylee grinned when Silver caught her eye and then looked away pointedly. "I'll use my first-badge team, you use what you've got, okay?"

"Fair enough," Key agreed, standing up. "Come on, let's go get the Pokémon…"

They got to the training room to find a sing-along in progress. Silver's Pokémon had evidently picked up some of his favourite bands and taught the songs to Kel, because she was reproducing them perfectly, right down to the electric guitar, which Saylee hadn't thought anything organic could make. Then again, Kel had noticeably evolved into Kricketune, which had likely massively expanded her musical range.

"Congratulations, Kel!" Saylee said, stepping into the room. The Pokémon trailed off, looking to their trainers. "So, since there's no point in me fighting Silver, since we all know I'd kick his ass—"

"Tyra. Princess Firebutt. Let's go."

"—Key and Silver are going to have a regulation first-badge match."

"Gadin! Orin! Craig!" Tyra called. A lumpy little Geodude like Gimli—though he was noticeably larger—was the first to come over from the part of the room that was set up like the world's most elaborate rock-climbing wall as part of the wall itself detached to become a small Onix. The third Pokémon took Saylee a minute to recognize as she'd only seen him once before; he came up to her waist, a bipedal grey-and-blue Pokémon with a large, round head and a fat tail. He ran up to Silver and hugged him around the waist.

"Papa!" he said excitedly. "We get to battle again?"

"Yep," Silver said, patting his head and returning the Geodude and Onix to their pokéballs. "Just watch Gadin and Orin fight first, okay?"

"'Kay!" Craig said excitedly.

"He calls you _papa_?" Key squealed.

"I brought him back from a fossil," Silver said defensively. "Shut up. And anyway it stops him calling me mama. Shut up!"

"Not—saying—anything," Saylee wheezed. She was laughing so hard that she'd run out of sound and was just bent double, clutching her stomach and gasped.

"Then Terra, Philon, Basma, I'll fight with you three, okay?" Key giggled, desperately trying to keep a straight face in case Silver was more inclined towards killing people who weren't his sister for laughing at him. "Does everybody else want to watch?"

"It sounds most enjoyable," Caelin said, getting up and motioning for their other Pokémon to follow the other humans out of the room.

"We're going through the leader door, so you'll have to go to the other end of the field," Silver told Key. "The rest of you go wherever the hell you want so long as it's not on the field, got it?"

"Yes, sir," Saylee said, giving him a kiss on the cheek for luck and giving Key a high-five. "I don't know who to cheer on, 'cause you're both awesome, so I'm just going to cheer at random."

"Shut up," Silver growled, striding to his marker with Craig trotting happily after him. The battlefield was a flat plan of compressed dust and mining excess; behind the challenger's box, Saylee could see the long slope of the scree pile that the huge steel warehouse was built around. At the bottom of the slope was the door that challengers probably normally entered by, not coming from the miner's dormhouse.

"Okay, Basma, you start!" Key called, setting down the little Budew and watching her run onto the field.

"Gadin!" Silver called, releasing his Geodude. "Tackle that squirt!"

"Absorb!" Key called. When Gadin charged Basma, she clamped onto him with the two halves of her bud. Somehow, the tiny grass-type managed to hold the larger Geodude still while she drained his energy.

"Gadin is down!" Saylee called when Gadin passed out. Basma promptly let him go, bouncing on the spot and enjoying her new burst of energy.

"Well done, Basma!" Terra called encouragingly.

"Thanks!" Basma said excitedly. "I feel all juiced up now! Who's next?"

"Orin!" Silver called, returning his Geodude and releasing his Onix. "Rock Throw!"

"Ack!" Basma yelped, frantically dodging the large boulders.

"Stay calm, Basma!" Terra called encouragingly. "You're quick and a small target! He won't hit you!"

"Water Sport!" Key ordered. Basma's bud split open as she began to spray water around. Orin roared and reared back nervously. "Good! Now Absorb again!"

"Orin, look out!" Silver yelled, but the huge Orin wasn't nimble enough to dodge as Basma latched onto his tail and began to drain energy from him, too. Orin collapsed a few moments later.

"Two for Key!" Saylee called as Silver returned his Onix.

"Well, at least you don't suck," he commented with a shrug, "which is more'n I can say for most people. Okay, Craig, you're up! Headbutt!"

"'Kay, Papa!" Craig said excitedly, charging onto the battlefield. He didn't stop charging, headbutting Basma hard.

"Basma!" Key cried as the little bud was sent flying into the air. "Absorb!"

"I'm trying!" Basma said frantically, landing on Craig's head and trying to latch on with her bud. She couldn't get any grip on Craig's solid, shiny head.

"That's thick, solid skull you're trying to drain energy from," Silver gloated. "Pursuit!"

Craig shook his head, whipping Basma off as she failed to get any grip. He immediately dashed after her, slashing at her with his small but sharp claws.

"Take it up a notch, Basma!" Key called. "Mega Drain!"

"Oooh, yeah!" Basma said excitedly, opening her bud again. Thin vines came out and wrapped themselves around Craig, holding him immobile until Basma had drained all of his energy and he collapsed, unconscious.

"Game, set and match to Key, I'm afraid," Saylee laughed. Her and Key's Pokémon cheered and crowded around Basma.

"This can't be!" Silver yelled, running over to Craig. "…okay, it is. Beaten by that little bud? Ceez…" he returned Craig, sighing. "Well, this is embarrassing… twice in one damn day…"

"Don't worry about it," Saylee said, walking over to him and smiling. "Things might've gone different if you were using your real team."

"Yeah, but I want to be able to win with _any_ Pokémon," Silver sighed, pocketing his pokéballs. "Some god am I. Oi! Key!"

"Yeah?" Key said, trotting over with Basma snuggled in her arms.

"Good going," Silver said. "You were strong and I was weak, that's all there is to it. So here." He pulled a badge out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "Might as well get the rest and go show those stuck-up nobs at the League a thing or two. Might help you find that Archie dude, too."

"Find Archie?" Key asked quickly. "How?"

"Well, I think he's doing the challenge too," Silver said with a shrug. "The police officers described him before and after his disguise fell off, and I think he's a guy that came through about a week ago and tanked my gym with a Piplup. Didn't realize who he was at the time, but he didn't strike me as an asshole, so I didn't think much of it."

"Prince!" Terra gasped. "They've been through here before?"

"Yeah… look, the nearest other gym is in Eterna, I think," Silver explained. "Go north from Jubilife, east from Floaroma, through the forest, and there you are. Maybe he's headed there next, y'know?"

"Thank you, Silver!" Key said excitedly, hugging him.

"Hey, hey hey!" Silver yelped, ducking away. "You have no sister privileges! Lemme go!"

"Sorry," Key giggled, letting him go and immediately opening up her Pokénav map of Sinnoh to start route planning.

"Y'know how I used to complain that you and Blue were all mushy and crap?" Silver told Saylee.

"Yeah, why?" Saylee asked.

"Well, at least you're not _crazy_ like her," he said, jerking his thumb at Key.

{}

{}

 _This week's chapter posting from Switzerland, where Key and I have been repairing Gameboy cartridges and making PLANS. We're going to be doing some streaming on Tuesday evening, so keep an eye on the tumblr, sayleeofkanto, for updates!_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Bob the Bidoof, Sally the Shinx, Kel the Kricketune, Zoe the Zubat, Gimli the Geodude_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Starly, Leo the Shinx, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	7. Chapter 6

_\Saylee—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 2_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 29_ _th_ _, 8:24 am}_

 _{Oreburgh City}_

"Be careful, and call if anything comes up, okay?" Saylee said, giving Silver a hug goodbye the next morning.

"Sure, sure," Silver said, rolling his eyes. "I promise that if any blue-haired creeps try to kill, maim or in any way try to harm me or other random kids, you will be able to smell the barbecue from the peak of Mt Coronet."

"I'm serious," Saylee insisted, leaning back but tapping his chin to make her look her in the eye, which he no longer had to look up to do. With the ring of flaring gold around his irises, his eyes no longer looked _exactly_ like Red's, but it was enough to make her afraid for him. "Watch yourself, and call me the second anything happens, okay?"

"You too," Silver insisted. "You get into _way_ more trouble than I do, and I've got god powers now, remember? Oh, hey, idea…" He ran inside and came back out a minute later with an empty glass jar.

"Nice to meet you Silver, thanks for the hospitality, let's _go_ Saylee!" Key called nervously. She was practically jogging on the spot on the route to the Oreburgh Gate. Terra was standing ahead of her with Basma on her back, also looking very ready to go. Caelin had her arms crossed and was tapping her fingers impatiently. The princess was sitting on Gimli's head, having deemed walking beneath her and the Geodude being the only one strong enough to carry her. He didn't seem to notice her weight at all.

"Ceez, wait ten seconds!" Silver yelled. "Here…" He handed Saylee the empty jar and held out his hand. He sucked in a sharp breath, then spat a ball of purple fire into his hand.

"Silver!" Saylee yelped in surprise.

"Calm down, will you? It's _my_ fire," Silver said, grabbing her hand and putting the fire in it. It felt pleasantly warm and slightly ticklish, but nothing worse than that. "I tried this out before, it's great… here, look." He ground a bit of the fire between his fingers, causing black powder to drop into the jar. "That's Sacred Ash," he said, swivelling the jar so the ash coated the glass. "It'll keep the jar from melting or setting stuff on fire. Anyway, just tip the fire into your hand and it warms your whole body. You could be standing naked in the snow—although I haven't done that, I'm not a headcase. It's just that winter's coming and it's you so I know you'll do dumb shit, so if you hold that you and anyone touching you'll be warm no matter what."

"That's brilliant, Silver!" Saylee said, pouring the fire into the bottle and feeling it warm her. "Thank you so much!"

"Yeah, but here's the cool and tricky part that I only just got the hang of," Silver said proudly. "It's, uh… 'set' to you. It's based on that dragon pin of yours. It only works for _you_. Any other human touches the fire, and…" He snapped his fingers. " _They're_ sacred ash. Just like that. So don't you touch it!" he ordered Key.

"Watch me _not_ ," Key insisted. "Thanks so much! Are we _going_? This country gets like three hours of sunlight!"

"Ten at this time of year, relax," Saylee said, putting the bottle in her bag and hugging Silver again. "See you around, you little thief."

"Yeah, right, liar," Silver said, hugging her back. "Now bugger off and go find people or get in trouble or whatever it is you do."

{ _Mounua 29_ _th_ _, 8:59 am}_

 _(Oreburgh Gate}_

"Hey, why did he say it was based on your dragon pin?" Key asked as they walked through the newly-dug tunnels. Sally and Leo were leading, zapping any hungry Zubat that came their way. Both Shinx were growing larger, and Saylee was watching them closely for tufts of black fur appearing on their heads.

"The sacred fire?" Saylee said, opening her coat and taking out the broach. "Well, this is why." She held out the blue-and-gold brooch for Key to take, and kept her hand held out while Key peered at it curiously.

"I don't get i—ah!" she yelped, dropping the brooch into Saylee's hand. Saylee pinned it back inside of her coat, grinning. "Why aren't you burning up wearing that thing?"

"It's something in how they make that blue glasslike stuff in it," Saylee explained. "Supposedly it's 'crystallized dragonfire', whatever that means…. Anyway, it's a trade secret how it's made, but that dragonglass has a few interesting properties, one of them being that it kind of bonds to the first human skin to touch it."

"Bonds?" Key asked, staring at where the pin was.

"Hey, stop staring at my boobs!" Saylee said, mock-offended. Key blushed and stuck her tongue out at her. "Anyway, I didn't know about it when I got it, but I picked it up and ran my hand over it and everything because that's what you do when you get jewellery, isn't it? See what it feels like? Apparently, mine was the first human hand to touch it, so now it doesn't burn me. But any other human who touches it basically feels like their hand's been set on fire."

"Ooooh…" Key gasped. "I wondered how they knew if that emblem was stolen or whatever…"

"You might've noticed that most of the times I have to pull it out as ID, whoever I'm showing it to will touch it," Saylee explained. "If they feel it burning but I'm showing no ill-effects, they know that it's legit and it's mine. That's what Silver meant about the sacred fire. He's figured out the trick of making it 'sympathetic'."

"And how long have you been sister to a firebird, Sar?" Caelin asked curiously.

"He ascended nearly three years ago," Saylee said quietly. "Just after he turned ten. He was ill for a long time, just like Wally was… except Wally's pain showed up mainly as asthma and lung conditions, because he's the titan of air, and even mild disturbances in the air got to him. Silver had ridiculous fevers, and I mean really _bad_. At one point, we were terrified that we were going to lose him because he was begging for water and the damn stuff turned to steam when we tried to pour it into his mouth…" She felt a lump in her throat at the mere memory of those terrible days at the worst point of Silver's avatar sickness. "Suicune managed to rehydrate him somehow, thankfully. He spent a few days just sleeping on her back, wrapped in her purple mane, steaming gently. He made it, as you can see."

"That's awful," Key gasped. "That's why you were so worried about Wally, right? And about those kids…"

"You might have mentioned upfront that you are a guardian of the gods, Sar," Caelin said reproachfully. "One must not hide their light under a bushel."

"Given how many people have tried to capture and control the god Pokémon when they're in the form of giant, angry Pokémon, I don't want to think what would happen if the same kind of people found out that several gods are now in the forms of children and young teenagers who can't access their full power without ripping their own bodies apart," Saylee said with a shudder. "I try to keep the whole thing as secret as possible. None of you will say anything, will you? Not even if I say somebody's an avatar. Most people wouldn't believe it until the god that's chosen them starts talking to them. It's too much hassle all around and draws too much attention. In a few years' time, once they're all adults and have some control over their powers… well, it's up to them, really, but ideally they'll be able to permanently unite Pokémon and human societies. Until then…"

"Don't worry, lips are zipped," Key promised.

"We would that we had fought your brother and his Pokémon now," Caelin mused. "To win his respect would have been valuable indeed to my claim."

"Silver isn't very good at _respect_ ," Saylee laughed.

"We recall," Caelin said dryly. " _Princess Firebutt_ …" she slapped Gimli on the head for laughing, but ignored Terra's desperate attempt to stifle her own giggles.

"Still, I think he kinda liked you," Saylee continued. "He just has a weird way of showing it. But as long as we're fighting together, I know I can count on him for help if I get really that desperate."

"Our thanks, Sar," Caelin said, bowing her head. "Do you think we will reach Jubilife tonight?"

Saylee checked the time on her pokégear. "Probably not," she said. Key groaned. "No, we will _not_ go all night. We'll get as far down the trail as we can before sunset, then pitch camp. We can spend the evening training after dusk."

"Fine," Key sighed. "Then I can kick Archie's butt that much harder when we finally find the idiot."

{ _Monua 30_ _th_ _, 5:08 pm_ }

{ _Jubilife City}_

Jubilife was much more bustling the second time they arrived in Sinnoh's biggest city. It was the weekend, so kids were all over the place, shopping or going to movies or just hanging out with their Pokémon and each other. Saylee, Key, Caelin and Terra stopped to examine a streetmap display to find which way to go.

"So to get to Eterna, we have to go to Floaroma, right?" Saylee said, walking in front of Caelin as a few kids on skateboards going the opposite way "hilariously" pretended to be about to hit them before swerving at the last moment. "No Embers or Mach Punches. Princess or not, they _will_ arrest you."

"Floaroma is up in the mountains to the north," Terra explained. "It's very beautiful. Filled with blooming flowers."

"Hence the name, I guess," Key laughed, reading her map. "Anyway, the route north is just past the conference centre… want to scope it out and train a bit before getting dinner?"

North was easy to find; in Jubilife, it was all uphill. They wandered past a few large official buildings before finding the exit route between the conference centre and the TV station. The road was paved for a while past the buildings, before giving way to dirt paths and a sign notifying trainers that they could now release their Pokémon and warning them about wild Pokémon in the area. Key immediately let her team out.

"Sar, is everything alright?" Caelin asked as Saylee paused before releasing her Pokémon, looking around with a frown.

"I have a… bad feeling…" she said, rubbing her forehead.

"Like when you saw the man at Lake Verity?" Caelin asked sharply.

"…Yeah, actually," Saylee said thoughtfully.

"Hey, I hear voices over that way," Zoran said, flapping towards the trees. "If that's any use."

Saylee stepped towards the trees. "Yeah, I think it is," she said as the feeling intensified. She reached out and touched a freshly broken branch on a tree. It was quite thick. _Someone was holding onto this and_ really _didn't want to let go_.

"Saylee, wait!" Key yelled as Saylee ran down the trail of crushed leaves and broken tree branches, slowing down once she too could hear the voices of several people.

They hadn't gone too far off of the path, just far enough to not be audible to human ears. There was a gasp of pain and a slight _crunch_ of someone collapsing onto the frosty grass. Saylee stopped behind a tree and peered around it.

She growled under her breath at the sight of two people with green hair and grey jumpsuits, one of whom was holding Lucas' arms while the boy slumped to his knees, the other jumpsuit having apparently just kicked him in the stomach. Dawn was struggling against a Glameow's tail, which was wrapped tightly around her while the Pokémon itself raised its claws threateningly. Professor Rowan, gripping his large brown suitcase, stepped towards Lucas.

"They're just children, you worthless lowlifes," the Professor said coldly to the green-haired thugs. "Let them go!"

"We will as soon as you hand over the research," the thug that had kicked Lucas said, stepping forward with his hand out. "If you don't want to hand it over, we can rough them up some more…"

"Boss, there's a human loitering behind that tree there," the Glameow said lazily. "I can _smell_ her. Some stinky fire-type, too. Come out, or I'll cut her," she called, pressing a claw against Dawn's leg. Dawn yelped in pain as she began to bleed.

"Calm down, I'm coming out," Saylee said, stepping around the tree with her hands up. Caelin followed, glowering at the green-haired grunts. Key and her Pokémon, who had been creeping up behind Saylee, also sheepishly stepped out of the trees.

"Ah, Saylee and Key," Professor Rowan said, deliberately calm. "Terra and Princess Caelin too! Look how you've grown, Princess!"

"Shut up, old man! You two, return your Pokémon right now!" the thug holding Lucas ordered. "Or else!"

"Caelin, I have to put you all away," Saylee said calmly. "We can't let them hurt Dawn and Lucas."

"Of course, but will you be alright?" Caelin asked, glowering at the thugs.

"Perfectly alright," Saylee said, returning her. Key returned her Pokémon.

"Hands in the air, now!" the kicking thug ordered. "Right, we want your research on Pokémon evolution energy, Rowan, and we want it now!"

"P-Profess—agh!" Lucas yelped at the thug turned and kicked him again. Lucas squeezed his eyes shut as he went white, trembling and starting to breathe rapidly.

"You leave him alone!" Dawn screeched, struggling to get out of the Glameow's tail. The feline Pokémon just constricted her more tightly.

"The deal is that I will give you my research if you _stop_ hurting my assistants," Rowan said sharply. "You do want this research, don't you?"

"Of course…" The kicking thug looked from Rowan to Key and Saylee. "Hand it to the short one. She'll bring it to us, then we'll let your assistants go, got it?"

Rowan looked sharply at Saylee. She caught his eye and nodded. "I'll take it over to them, Professor," she said, holding out her hands for the briefcase. He looked at her for a long, calculating moment before handing it over.

"Professor, _no_ , you can't give your research to people like—" Dawn was cut off with a gasp as the Glameow's tail wrapped around her throat.

"I'll walk over to you," Saylee said, holding up the briefcase. "You unwrap your tail from Dawn, and you let Lucas go. They keep their hands in the air and walk up with you."

"If they try to run before I get my hands on the briefcase…" the thug said, nodding to the Glameow. "She's fast. She'll cut them down."

"I understand," Saylee said, waiting until Dawn and Lucas were let go. There was a brief moment of glare-based negotiation before the thug allowed Dawn to put a supportive arm around Lucas, who was shaking and now clearly hyperventilating. Murmuring support and promises of safety, the two children limped forward with the thug gripping Dawn's arm. Saylee walked up with the briefcase, subtly testing its weight in each hand.

"Here," she said, holding out the briefcase with her left hand. "Hey, you know what's good about being short?"

"What?" the grunt sneered, grabbing the briefcase.

Saylee slammed the heel of her right palm into his jaw from underneath, snapping his head back and causing a satisfying _cracking_ noise. There was a spasm of pain from the healing slice in her arm, but it wasn't so bad that she couldn't ignore it. "I'm at the perfect height to do that," she said, flinging her arms out to push Dawn and Lucas behind her as the Glameow darted forwards with a snarl. She swung the suitcase around, whacking the elegant feline on the side of the head and stunning it for just long enough for Key to release her Pokémon.

"You bitch!" the second thug yelled, releasing a shaggy white-and-purple Pokémon that Saylee recalled seeing actual PSAs about; a Stunky, a notoriously foul-tempered and foul-smelling Pokémon whose stench could take _months_ to dissipate. Key was already at her side, though, holding up Saylee's pokéballs as Terra, Stan, Leo, Basma, Philon and Zoran all hurried to put themselves between their trainer and the aggressors.

"What do we do about these two?" Key said as the Glameow got back on its feet and the Stunky stalked towards them.

"Leo and Sally on the Stunky, Caelin on the Glameow," Saylee ordered, releasing her own Shinx and Monferno.

"Ah-ha!" Caelin growled, cracking her knuckles at the sight of the green-haired thugs. "At last, we may battle these ruffians!"

"Poison Gas and Scratch!" the conscious thug ordered.

"Ew, NO!" Sally yelped. She and Leo zapped the Stunky in unison as it tried to raise its tail. The Glameow whipped her tail towards Caelin.

"You think you can challenge _our_ like?" Caelin laughed, dodging the tail and punching the Glameow in the face. "You're a hundred years too soon to even dream of it, peasant!"

Both Pokémon collapsed. Saylee ran to grab the conscious thug as he tried to run, knocking him to the ground and sitting on his back while she held his arm in an armlock. "Somebody call the Jubilife police!" she called.

"I'll do it," Dawn said quickly, giving her brother a quick look-over. He was breathing slowly and deliberately, one hand on his stomach, but gave her a thumbs-up. She stood up and started dialling on her pokétch. "Thank you so much, Sar…"

"Stop right there," Rowan said, striding over to the semiconscious thug who was beginning to stir. The thug spat out a couple of teeth as he hauled himself to his hands and knees, before Rowan grabbed him by the front of his jumpsuit and slammed him back against a tree.

"How dare you! Let us go!" yelled the thug Saylee was holding, struggling against her grip. Caelin pointedly sat on the man's legs to stop him kicking back at Saylee.

"Quiet, you lot!" Professor Rowan barked angrily. "Why must you be such a nuisance? Let me list some lessons you still need to learn. Number One: Don't loiter about for no good reason. Number Two: Don't interrupt others while they are attempting to converse. Number three: If you don't get your way, don't raise your voice or assault children to be intimidating. Number four: Don't think you've grown strong just because you're in a group. Number five: What is with those outlandish outfits you have on? My goodness... You call yourselves adults? You kids, don't grow up to be like these sorry specimens," he added to Dawn and Lucas.

Lucas shook his head. "No, sir," Dawn promised as soon as she'd finished dialling. "Lou? Feeling better?" Lucas nodded. "Can we go for a checkup just to make sure? I thought you were having a fit for a second…" Lucas scowled but nodded. "Okay. Thank so you much, Sar," she said, looking up at Saylee. "I thought we were really in trouble there, y'know? Where did you learn to punch like that?"

"From a Hitmonchan," Saylee explained, massaging her arm. "I used to train one and do some of his workouts with him. No human can ever punch as hard as a Hitmonchan, of course, which is why your friend still has teeth," she added to the grunt she was holding onto.

"You know, I kind of figured you were going to do that," Key said, picking up the dropped briefcase. "You had that same look you had right before you punched that Aqua guy who killed Winnie. And that Magma guard. And Archie."

"Hmm," Saylee said with a frown. "I should probably try not to have a 'punching' look, I'll give myself away."

"I doubt these scum expected it anyway," Rowan snorted, shaking the man he was holding up. The thug's feet were barely brushing the ground. "I assume that was why you asked her to bring the briefcase instead of me? A sixth lesson, you fool; do not judge by appearances. This woman is a knight of the realm, I was confident that she could handle wastes of space such as you. Thank you for rescuing my assistants, Sar," he added to Saylee.

"It's what I do," Saylee said, smiling at her Pokémon. "Although this actually went really well for once…"

{}

{}

 _We are once again coming to you from Switzerland! Thank you very much to everybody who tuned in to our Yellow nuzlocke this week :P Four days is nae bad given how many Pokémon we lost in and around Vermillion, right? Please keep an eye on the fabulous Key-chan's Twitch page, thelookernetwork, for future LPs and nuzlockes :)_

 _Also, I have to say that Professor Rowan's angry speech to the Galactic members in Veilstone is one of my favourites in the game. It absolutely cracks me up XD_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Shinx, Kel the Kricketune, Zoe the Zubat, Gimli the Geodude_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Starly, Leo the Shinx, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	8. Chapter 7

_Saylee—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 2_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Monua 31_ _st_ _, 11:34 am}_

 _{Jubilife Police Station, Jubilife City}_

"They're employees of Galactic Energy and they're wearing the uniform, but we didn't get much more in the way of questioning in before their lawyer swooped in and got them to clamperl up," a police officer explained to Saylee, Key, Professor Rowan, Terra and Caelin. Since the thugs hadn't really been able to deny making the attack, taking statements from both humans and Pokémon had been largely a formality that they'd been permitted to leave off until morning, until Dawn and Lucas had seen a doctor for their injuries and they'd all had a night's rest to compose themselves. None of their statements had taken longer than about five minutes except Lucas; according to Dawn, it was aphasia that gave her brother trouble with speaking when he was nervous or unsettled, and as the condition was the result of an epileptic fit as a child it also carried the risk of causing more fits if he got too stressed or anxious. She hovered protectively by her brother's side while he pieced his statement together to a blessedly patient police officer, who had then allowed them to leave the station while the rest waited to hear what the interrogation had yielded. "Galactic themselves have denied knowledge of this attack."

"Of course they have," Professor Rowan said with a scowl. "Very well. Thank you, officer."

"However, green hair and grey jumpsuits were also the outfits worn by the people who broke into the Alph research centre in Johto and murdered an archaeologist there," Saylee pointed out sharply. "And I was _there_ when people wearing those same uniforms attacked Lavender Town in Kanto. Galactic denied having anything to do with them, but three separate incidents of thugs dressed in their company uniform—?"

"Interpol's investigating that separately," the officer insisted. "Galactic have denied a hand in those cases as well, and there's no proof it wasn't some loose cannon individuals like this pair… actually, I wonder if this pair weren't involved in Johto. Violent assault and stealing research seems to be their MO," the officer added thoughtfully. "We'll add that to the interrogation, if their goddamn lawyer stops cocooning us in red tape for long enough to _let_ us interrogate them. If you'll excuse me…"

"Is it not odd?" Caelin asked as the officer directed them to the exit and hurried off. "You humans have access to many different kinds of clothes, do you not? Why, Sar, you and Lady Key wear different colours of clothing almost every day, aside from your top clothes!"

"Yes, we do change our clothes aside from our coats quite frequently," Saylee agreed as they started walking out of the station. "Humans do that. Our clothes can get pretty grotty otherwise. Your point?"

"So surely these Galactic peasants have many types of clothing other than those grey uniforms?" Caelin asked. "Why, then, would they wear them to commit crimes?"

"I don't know," Saylee sighed, rubbing her forehead. "If they weren't part of the company and were trying to frame it for involvement, this would make sense, but they _are_ part of the company… I don't understand what their game is, but I have a bad feeling about it."

"Yes, so do I," Rowan agreed, pushing the door open and letting them out into the chill air. "I think I will cancel the field trip I was intending to take Dawn and Lucas on and take them home for a few days to their parents. Perhaps I will take them to see that street magician who is playing in Jubilife right now to cheer them up. I feel terrible that they were met with such trauma for being my assistants."

"It is not your fault, Professor," Caelin insisted.

"Thank you, Princess, but nevertheless," he sighed. "If only those sneaks hadn't jumped the children, my own Pokémon would have handled them in a moment…"

"I don't doubt it," Saylee agreed. "I'm sure they'll be fine with you on your guard."

"I can promise you that I'll be very on guard now that I know that thugs are after my research," Rowan said, scowling fiercely. Then he stopped walked, pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "I am glad they're not badly hurt, but I do feel that I have failed the children somewhat. I have worked with their parents since before they were married and they have a great deal of trust in me."

"So you've known Dawn and Lucas all their lives?" Saylee asked, edging closer to Caelin for warmth.

"Yes," Rowan said with a nod. "They have always shown a keen interest in Pokémon. Dawn is a highly intelligent and knowledgeable girl… in fact, she's already tested out of high school, and next fall she will start her undergraduate course at Jubilife University, majoring in Pokémon biology. I think I'm as proud of her as her parents!" He laughed. "Lucas is a shy child—his aphasia is quite strenuous and he talks very little, as I'm sure you've noticed—but he is highly intuitive when it comes to Pokémon. He is very good at telling when a Pokémon is friendly and when it is hostile, even when their behaviour patterns are deviating from the norm, even when they're unwilling to communicate. I think that both of them are going to grow up to do wonderful things with Pokémon."

"I completely agree," Saylee said, checking the time on her Pokégear. "I'd love to say goodbye to them, but we have to get a move on…"

"Yeah, we're going to lose the trail at this rate!" Key complained. "Give Dawn and Lucas my best, will you?"

"I will," Rowan promised. "I'm sure they're at the cocoa stand over on Oreburgh Street. That they got off with no more than cuts and bruises is thanks to you two. I cannot express how grateful I am for that, or for how well you care for Caelin and Terra."

"It's nothing," Saylee said with a smile.

"Thank you for introducing us, Professor," Caelin added. "Sar Kanto and Lady Key are ideal humans for us. Good health and fortune to you. Come along!" She turned and loped back up the road north. Saylee, Key and Terra waved to Professor Rowan and took off after her.

"At this rate, we'll probably have to camp out a couple of nights in a row on the way to Floaroma," Saylee said, striding quickly up the road to the route north. "Barring more Galactic incidents… the only way any of this makes sense is if the incidents are connected, whether through Galactic Corp or through some other organization that's getting most of its patsies and foot soldiers from Galactic…"

"They're the people Agent Looker described, aren't they?" Key asked, glancing sidelong at a trash can.

Saylee nodded. "Too bad he didn't give us his number… hopefully one of the police officers will inform him," she mused. "They did mention an Interpol investigation…" She sighed. "Well, it still went pretty well," she said with a smile. "Nobody died, Dawn and Lucas are going to be okay, and Galactic don't know who and what they are."

"Do you know what they are yet?" Terra asked. "Which gods?"

"Hmmm…" Saylee thought for a moment and another face presented itself. "I'm pretty sure they're also something to do with that blond kid, so it could well be some kind of D'Aulaire Triad, but I'm going to need to do some more research to figure out which one. I can do that on my Pokédex tonight."

{ _Jinua 1_ _st_ _, 7:38 pm_ }

{ _Ravaged Path}_

"Do you feel better now?" Philon asked, watching the newcomer clutch Diana's pearl to her head.

Patricia nodded. "Thank you so much!" the female Psyduck said happily, holding the pearl out again. "Here, you can have this back, thank you…"

"No, you keep it, you need it," Philon insisted. "I feel fine so long as I'm near it."

"What do we do?" Key asked. On their second day of travel north, they'd run into Patricia wandering lost in the Ravaged Path, wailing in pain just like Philon had been. Philon had kindly offered her Diana's pearl, and the two Psyduck had been walking around all day, swapping it back and forth. While they weren't far from Floaroma, Saylee didn't want to chance the rocky and unfamiliar terrain in the dark and was starting to look for good camping spots.

"You have six at the moment," Saylee said, looking at the pokéballs on her belt, "but I only have five… I could catch her and keep her. We only have them out together so they can both be protected by the pearl."

"Would you like to serve my lady Caelin?" Terra asked Patricia. "You and Philon may not be able to fight apart, but both of you would make able assistants to my lady…"

"If you don't mind leaving your home, anyways," Sally added.

"Yeah, we travel a _lot_ ," Leo agreed, holding up and licking one of his paws. " _So_ much walking…"

"You wimp, you've been in your pokéball most of the day!" Sally cried, tackling Leo and kickstarting a fresh bout of play-battle.

"I don't mind leaving," Patricia said with a shrug. "This isn't my home anyway. I don't actually know where I am… I'm kinda lost."

"We'll help you get home!" Basma offered, looking from Terra to Caelin and the humans. "Won't we?"

"Sure," Saylee offered, holding up a pokéball. Patricia tapped it and vanished, leaving Philon holding the pearl. Saylee immediately let the new Psyduck out again. "How's that feel?"

"Fine," Patricia said brightly. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, we need to stop and make camp soon, and this looks like a decent spot," Saylee said, pointing at a grassy knoll nearby. "But it's too early for dinner, so before then…"

"We train," Caelin said firmly. "We will not be caught off-guard again." She looked to Saylee. "We leave training plans to you, Sar. You are experienced in this, are you not?"

"Okay, so, training pairs," Saylee said, looking around the assemblage thoughtfully. "Sally and Leo, you'll be together, same as always. You feed off of each other's electricity well, and you're really competitive and you're fighting already, which always helps."

"Terra, you can teach Basma," Key added. "You guys should probably stay away from Gimli and Caelin, though."

"Yeah, you two can train together near to Patricia and Philon," Saylee suggested. "Neither of you can hurt them much, even though you're much stronger than them. Patricia and Philon need to train together, obviously…" She laid out practice plans for the Pokémon to spar together, then settled down to start a fire with Key and watch over the Pokémon. The only ones she kept losing track of were Zoe and Zoran; to the Zubat, darkness was no different from daytime, and they kept flying up into the night sky with Stan shrieking at them to stay near the others. Only Kel didn't train; she was, she confessed, frightened of battle, and preferred sitting on Saylee's lap and composing battle songs.

"Hey, that's a good one!" Sally yelled at one point, wrestling Leo to the ground.

"Yeah!" Leo agreed. "Makes me feel—UUUURAAAH!" He flung Sally off of him and rolled to his feet, pouncing and pinning her easily. Large tufts of black fur had sprouted around his head, giving him a pointed black mane. "Check it out!"

"Hey, you evolved! No fair!" Sally snarled, flinging him back and leaping up to pin him back, sprouting a small black mane herself. "Hah! There we go! I can still pin you!"

"Well, I evolved _first_!" Leo argued, pawing at his newly evolved friend's mane.

"You're both Luxio! That's brilliant!" Saylee said, scanning her Pokédex over them to get their vital stats. The other Pokémon crowded around them, exclaiming over their larger bodies and thick manes.

"That's so cool!" Key said excitedly. "I think, to celebrate, we should have snacks and take the rest of the evening off, what do you think?"

"We deem this a fine course of action," Caelin declared. "Nanab, if you would be so good."

"Where're, eh, Zoe, Zoran and Stan?" Gimli asked, looking around the darkness.

"They must've flown off too far…" Saylee said with a frown. "Zoe! Zoran! Stan!"

"I can call to them!" Kel offered, scratching her forelimbs together to make a wailing screech. It was, somehow, not unpleasant, and definitely carrying. They heard responding shrieks from Zoe and Zoran somewhere in the darkness.

"Guys! Guys!" Zoe called excitedly as she flew back. "Guess what!"

"It's so cool!" Zoran said, flapping down with her. They landed on either of Saylee's shoulders and scanned the group. "Oh… Uh, Stan, I think Sally and Leo evolved too…"

"They what?" Stan complained, landing next to the two Luxio. "You two stole my thunder, curse you!" He was taller and larger than he had been when he'd left; Saylee scanned him with her Pokédex and the data for _Staravia_ came up.

"Three evolutions?" Saylee said with a smile. " _Definitely_ deserving of snacks and relaxation."

{ _Jinua 1_ _st_ _, 11:55 pm_ }

{ _Route 204}_

"You're still awake, Sar?" Zoe asked around midnight, flapping over to sit on Saylee's raised shoulder. Saylee was lying on her side, reading through some notes on her pokédex. "What are you doing?"

"Just some reading," Saylee said, raising her pokédex before remembering that Zoe had no eyes; the Zubat could ultrasonically sense the shape of the pokédex and had probably detect Saylee pressing the buttons, but couldn't see what was _on_ the screen. "I'm reading about various gods… some are tied to specific locations, like Sinnoh's Lake Triad, or the Tao Dragons of Unova, but then there's others like Dialga, Palkia and Giratina or Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, trios linked in power… just trying to figure out who these kids are."

"Wow, you know a lot about the gods," Zoe said in awe. "How come?"

"Well, really, I'm reading Professor Hawkshaw's research," Saylee said. "She published a paper a year ago that laid out some interesting new developments of D'Aulaire's Triad Theory… maybe that was what caught Galactic—or whoever's—attention." She frowned sadly down at the diagrams on her pokédex's screen. "She was a friend of mine, sort of. I think I probably only saw her once outside of her lab, but she knew more than anyone about the gods, and she did love to talk about them, and I often ended up at that lab for various reasons… but I didn't know that much about her personal life. I didn't even meet her daughter until after she'd died…"

"Hey, Zoran! Check this out!" Zoe hissed to the other Zubat, who flapped down and sat next to her on Saylee's arm.

"What's that?" he asked, opening and closing his mouth silently as he took a sonic look at the pokédex.

"I can't wait until you two evolve," Saylee giggled. "Once you've got eyes, you'll be able to see the stuff on the screen here… I could probably teach you guys to read if you want, but there's some pretty beautiful artwork."

"What, like carvings?" Zoran asked.

"But flat," Saylee said. Both Zubat cocked their heads, flicking their ears. "Man, I can't _wait_ to see you two seeing colours…"

Both Zubat looked confused, before shrugging and flying off. Saylee giggled and turned back to her reading. The giggles died down at the sight of a picture of Professor Hawkshaw talking about the Unown at a conference of some sort.

 _What were you figuring out about the gods?_ Saylee wondered, flicking through the articles. The theory that Melody Hawkshaw had been developing concerned D'Aulaire Triads, gods linked in threes, and the idea that their power was self-contained, unable to affect the domains of other Triads, but that manmade Pokemon like Porygon might be an exception. _Was there something in this that caught Galactic's attention? You liked talking about your research so much that I never thought for a second that you might be holding something back… what did you find that was worth killing for?_

{ _Jinua 2_ _nd_ _, 10:16 am_ }

{ _Floaroma Town}_

It was only about an hour after the group started moving the next day that they caught the smell of flowers. The flowers themselves came not long after; the ground seemed carpeted in them, small but vibrant blooms in more colours than Saylee had ever seen, even in Prim's flower shop. None of the flowers were large, but they were numerous, and all smelled subtly wonderful. A strip of grass ran among the flowers, allowing them to walk through without having to step on any of the delicate blooms, which were flourishing despite the approaching winter chill.

"This is amazing!" Key gushed, reaching towards some of the flowers but hesitating. "Ceez… I can't bring myself to pick any of them…"

"I think I see houses," Saylee said, peering up the slope. There didn't look to be a lot of them; the town was tiny, a few dozen houses clustered together among the sea of flowers.

"Floaroma Town!" Basma said excitedly, hopping off of Terra's back and running among the flowers, sniffing them happily. "Isn't it great?"

"It is beautiful," Terra sighed. "Isn't it, my lady?"

"Indeed," Caelin agreed, holding her tail carefully away from the flowers all around them. "Someday we must return to view the flowers in all of their spring splendour. For now, however, we must make haste to Eterna."

"Hold up," Stan called, returning from scouting ahead and landing in front of them. "Something's going on outside of the clinic. You might wanna see this…"

They hurried past a line of houses to the red-roofed clinic. Several humans were staring and muttering to one another while the clinic nurse scooped up an injured Budew that was being held aloft by several other tiny green Budew.

"What happened here?" Saylee asked one of the bystanders, a young man who looked about to cry as the nurse rushed the injured Budew into the clinic. The little group of Budew scurried in at her heels.

"Those Galactic assholes," he said shakily. "They closed off the Meadow… they said it was for important research, but…"

"They had no call to hurt Belle like that!" a middle-aged woman with glasses interjected angrily. "None at all!"

"Who's Belle?" Key asked.

"That little Budew that got injured," the young man explained. "We all know Belle, ever since she hatched in spring. She's a real little live wire, y'know?"

"She's normally a real sweetie," the woman added, "but if the other Pokémon are in danger, she can get _angry_."

"Still, she doesn't start fights," another man insisted. "She wouldn't have attacked those Galactic 'researchers' unless they were doing something wrong…"

"Aren't 'Galactic' those guys that were hurting Dawn and Lucas?" Leo asked.

"It sounds like they're hurting innocent Pokémon now, too," Terra said, shielding the leaves of her sapling protectively over Basma.

"We will not stand for this," Caelin declared. "We will make haste to the Meadow and destroy any Galactic scum unfortunate enough to cross our paths!"

"Thank you," the young man said gratefully. "The Meadow is just north of here…"

"Gotcha," Key said, looking around her Pokémon. "Stan, Zoe, Zoran, you guys should probably scout on ahead, let us know what we're up against."

"But _don't_ get into any fights until we're there to back you up, got it?" Saylee said. The three nodded and took off.

"Forward, then, to the Meadow!" Caelin ordered.

{ _Jinua 2_ _nd_ _, 10:45 am_ }

{ _Floaroma Meadow}_

"Please stop!" the combeekeeper yelled as the pair of Zubat ripped off the front of the hive. "Please, this hive doesn't have a Vespiquen right now, they're defenceless…"

"Which is why we're here!" the higher-ranking grunt sneered, directing his Stunky to blast foul-smelling gas at any Combee that attempted to attack them. "We need this honey to draw in rare Pokémon!"

"It's easiest to get from weak hives like these," the other laughed, scooping honey out of the hive and into jars. He dropped one at a long, drawn-out screech, which turned to angry, rapid piping and drumming.

"What is that?" one of the Zubat screeched.

"It's coming from the Meadow entrance!" the lower-ranking grunt yelled, letting go of the beekeeper. "Where the hell are the guards?!"

"You mean these guards?"

The higher grunt was hit by a falling green-haired Galactic guard. The lower-ranked on looked up and saw a Staravia and another pair of Zubat flying overhead. While he was looking up, a Geodude flung the second unconscious guard at him, knocking him over.

"Halt right there!" a blonde girl in a pink coat yelled. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Stunky! Zubat!" the conscious grunt yelled, pushing his insentient comrade off of him. "Don't just stand there! Do your jobs and get them!"

"Sally, Leo, Spark!" a short woman in a dark coat ordered. "Caelin, Mach Punch!"

The Zubat were both zapped out of the air by a pair of angry Luxio. An orange Pokémon with a flaming tail punched Stunky in the face, taking it down.

"How dare you—" the grunt snarled, trying to shake his comrade awake. A little Budew popped up in front of him.

"Hi!" she said brightly, opening her bud and showering him with powder until he blacked out.

{}

{}

 _For the sake of clarification: "D'Aulaire's Triad Theory" is a term that I've entirely made up in relation to the fact that the majority of the poké-gods come in threes. I know a lot of theories about this have been bandied about in the fandom, and I'm sure that even more have been thrown about in-universe; D'Aulaire's would be a major one, involves how the triads are represented in the Ruins of Alph, and is the theory that Professor Melody Hawkshaw was expanding on in her research. D'Aulaire is the name of the author of a huge-ass book of Greek Mythology that was in my eyeline on my bookshelf at the time that I was editing this chapter XD_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Patricia. Species: Psyduck. Nature: Naïve. Ability: Cloud Nine. Acquired: Ravaged Path._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Kel the Kricketune, Zoe the Zubat, Gimli the Geodude, Patricia the Psyduck_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Staravia, Leo the Luxio, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	9. Chapter 8

_Saylee—Pokémon: 7 Deaths: 2_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 2_ _nd_ _, 10:59 am}_

 _{Floaroma Meadow}_

"Was that not the requiem for Bob and Sean?" Terra asked Kel as the minstrel finished playing with a victorious flourish. Saylee, Key, Gimli and Caelin paused from dragging unconscious grunts into a pile to clap.

"I, uh, redid it as battle music," Kel said shyly. "Good battle music gives your allies courage and your enemies fear."

"It worked splendidly," Caelin said, nodding approvingly. "Well done, Kel. Well done, all."

"Thank you very much," the man in the combeekeeping suit said fervently. He unzipped the white suit to reveal a blue uniform underneath. "Can you help me get them back to the station?"

"You're a police officer?" Saylee asked as he took the combeekeeping net off of his helmet.

"I'm _the_ police officer," the man sighed, hefting a Galactic grunt onto his back, "and a poor excuse for one at that, right now. Normally there's Paul too—he's a Psyduck—but he's been missing for a few days…" Philon and Patricia looked nervously at each other and then at the pearl.

"So you came out here to deal with Galactic all by yourself?" Saylee said, halfway between impressed and exasperated. Caelin hefted one of the grunts over her head, while Gimli easily picked up the other two.

"Normally, if I needed backup, I could call to the larger station in Jubilife," the officer explained, leading them away from the hive, where the Combee were busily rebuilding, "but since the teleporters are down, it'd take them a couple hours to get here by helicopter… although I was actually here before Galactic got here. I check on the hives every day as part of my patrol route. The Pokémon around here are very friendly, so I thought I'd be fine without Paul…"

"Hey, one've 'em dropped something!" Leo called. Sally ran up to Saylee and spat something out into her trainer's hand. It was a small silver key with an orange handle.

"That's a key to the Valley Windworks," the police officer said in surprise. "Why do they have that?"

"I'm going to lay my money on 'nefarious purposes'," Saylee said, wiping the key on her coat and pocketing it. "Come on. You've got enough cells for these guys, right?"

{ _Monua 2_ _nd_ _, 11:23 am_ }

{ _Floaroma Town}_

By the time they got back to the police station, there was another crowd outside, all trying to comfort a sobbing little girl this time.

"They've taken over the Windworks!" a middle-aged man yelled angrily when he spotted the police officer. "What are the police going to do about it, hmmm?"

"It's them!" the young man from before said excitedly, pointing at Key and Saylee. "They got the ones up in the Meadow! Can you save the Valley Windworks?"

"Probably," Key said, looking around. "Where are they?"

"East of here," the officer explained, opening the door to the police station and pointing at a map inside of the door. "There's a clear road," he said, tracing the road on the map with his finger, then shaking their hands. "Thank you so much for your help. I'm sorry I can't fight with you, but without Paul…"

"We'll handle it," Saylee promised, glancing at the unconscious grunts and Pokémon in a heap in front of the police station. _Their Pokémon were weaker than ours,_ she thought, looking around the Princess and her entourage. _Even without our Pokémon from Hoenn, from home… I think we can handle this._ "Princess? Is everyone on board with rescuing the Windworks?"

Caelin looked around her retinue, taking in their nods. "We shall defend this realm from all who would contaminate it with their evil," she declared.

"Please save my daddy!" the little girl wailed, burying her face in the shoulder of the woman holding her.

"We'll, eh, do our best," Gimli promised, handing off the second grunt he was carrying.

{ _Jinua 2_ _nd_ _, 12:25 pm_ }

{ _Valley Windworks}_

"There's one door to the Windworks, and one guard on that door," Stan reported, flying through the trees to where Saylee and Key were hiding, near the huge, white windmills and the low, long edifice of the Valley Windworks.

"There's eight people inside, too," Zoe added, flying up and dangling upside-down off a branch.

"Six of 'em are in one room at the back, though," Zoran continued, joining her.

"Sounds a lot like a hostage situation," Saylee said with a frown. "Does that back room have any windows?"

"No, but the rest of the rooms do, and there's only a pair of green-haired assholes," Stan said. "One of them was patrolling around. The other was sitting in front of a lot of TVs near the front."

"Security cameras… if we can get to them, we can scope out the back office better," Saylee said thoughtfully. "I just wish I knew how many hostages we're talking about…"

"Three people work there!"

Saylee and Key looked down at the pair of nervous Budew that scurried up to them. "Three? Are you sure?" Saylee asked, crouching down to get closer to the level of the tiny Pokémon.

"Uh-huh," one of the Budew said. "We see 'em go in and out every day."

"Are you guys going to get the guys who hurt Belle?" the other one asked hopefully.

"We will see to it," Caelin promised. "Hurry home, somewhere safe." The Budew nodded, running off.

"So there are three hostages and three Galactics in the back office," Key said, counting on her fingers, "two guys in the building, and a door guard. What do we do?"

"We have to make sure that the hostages don't get hurt," Saylee said firmly. "First things first… that door guard and his Glameow. Then we hit the security camera guy as fast as possible. I'm guessing he's the reason they don't have a lot of people patrolling the inside. Need to take both of them out fast before they can radio for help, and hope they don't have regular check-in times… this isn't exactly a subtle attack, though, and…" She glanced down at her Pokégear screen again. "…no headlines. They haven't issued any statements to the police or the media. Whatever they want, they don't want to trade the Windworks or the hostages for them. Which might make the hostages expendable, if we're not careful…"

"My lady can take down the Glameow with ease," Terra said confidently, "but what of the human?"

"Basma's Stun Spore?" Key suggested. "It worked just fine back at the Meadow."

"Knocks humans out just fine," Saylee agreed. "Okay, so we need to do this fast…"

She outlined a plan, then she and Key returned all of their Pokémon except for Stan and split up. Luckily, there were a lot of small trees and bushes growing around the entrance of the Windworks. Saylee crept up behind one of the trees, Caelin's pokéball in her hand, watching the Glameow closely, and feeling grateful that the windmills disturbed the wind too much for it to smell her.

Up above, a Staravia called twice. _Stan. That means we're both in position…_

She released Caelin, who immediately delivered a devastating Mach Punch to the Glameow. As the Galactic grunt turned to look, Key jumped out of the bushes behind him and threw Basma at him. The little Budew landed on the man's shoulder in a shower of blue Sleep Powder. The guard dropped, snoring.

"Door's locked," Saylee said, trying the handle and then digging in her pocket for the key while Key swept up Basma. "Zoe," Saylee said, releasing her Zubat before opening the door, "where's the patrolling guard?"

Zoe opened her mouth and concentrated, seeing through the walls with her supersonic. "Walking away from the door," she said. "He's talking to the man in front of the TVs…"

"Let's go," Saylee said, cracking the door open and releasing Sally into the hall. Key released Leo. The two began to shoot off sparks at random, causing the lights to blow out, though the room was still plenty light thanks to the many windows. Two other small devices set into the wall also blew out, presumably the security cameras.

"C'mon," Saylee said, waving them down the hall. Caelin stayed next to Leo and Sally while Saylee and Key ran towards the door with Zoe and Basma on their shoulders. Saylee and Key pressed their backs against the wall at either side of the door.

"Here one comes!" Zoe whispered, facing the wall. A moment later, the door slid open and a green-haired grunt came running through. Distracted by Sally, Leo and Caelin, he didn't noticed Saylee and Key behind him.

"What are _you_ doing here?" he yelled, grabbing a pokéball. Basma hit him from behind with Sleep Powder and he dropped.

The pokéball rolled out of his hand, releasing a Stunky. "Intruders!" it snarled, raising its tail.

Caelin punched it hard in the face. "We do believe that that is the lava calling the fire hot," Caelin said acidly.

Saylee checked the Stunky and the grunt. "They're both out and breathing," she said. "Let's keep moving."

Key set Basma on the floor. "Be careful," she said, giving her Budew a pat on the head.

"Don't worry!" Basma chirped, running off into the larger generator room.

"Think she'll be alright?" Leo asked nervously, edging up to the doorway.

"They won't see her, she's tiny!" Sally insisted.

"Even if they see her, they'll assume she's a wild Budew from this area," Saylee reassured them. "That's no cause for alarm. Plus, she's stronger than wild Budew in this area. They'll underestimate her."

"Saylee, he's left the cameras," Zoe said, circling in front of the wall. "He's going towards Basma."

"Let's go, then," Saylee said, pushing the door open.

The room was full of humming generators. Key, Saylee and their Pokémon wove in between them, guided by Zoe towards the security console, circling behind the grunt that was looking for Basma.

There was a sudden scream. "Basma!" Key cried, running towards the source of the scream.

"Key, wait!" Saylee yelled, going after her friend. She almost tripped over the unconscious Galactic security grunt. He was covered with blue powder. _If he's down, then what's wrong with Basma…?_

"Up there!" Key yelled, pointing up. A Zubat was flying above them, Basma clamped in its jaws.

"Zoe, bite it!" Saylee ordered. Zoe flew up and sank her fangs into the opposing Zubat. It shrieked in pain, dropping Basma as it turned to focus on fighting Zoe. Key dove to catch Basma, cradling the little Budew to her chest. "Good!" Saylee shouted as Zoe bit her foe again. "Now get away!"

"You think _that_ little nip hurt me?" the other Zubat sneered as Zoe fled, chasing after her.

"No, we just needed you to drop Basma," Saylee said, looking to the Luxio. "Sally, Leo… Spark!" Both Luxio zapped the enemy Zubat. It fell with a screech and lay still.

"Is Basma okay?" Caelin asked, peering at Key's hands in concern.

"I'm okay," Basma insisted shakily. "Being so high up frightened me, is all."

"You've done really well," Key said, returning the tiny grass-type. "Have a rest."

"That was loud, though," Saylee said, running over to the security camera viewing screen. There were six images, two static from the hall, three from the generator floor and one of the back office. Saylee maximised that window. Two men and a woman were arguing with a woman with red hair, while an old man with pale purple hair bent over a computer. A standard-issue green bowlcut and a Glameow were flanking the red-haired woman. She turned her head in a huff for a moment, making her face fully visible to the camera. Saylee nearly choked on a brief burst of rage as, for a second, she thought she recognised the woman. _No… she's too young. Anyway, I would've been notified immediately if there'd been a breakout…_

"What can we do?" Caelin asked, leaning up to view the screen. "Do they know we are here?"

"No… they don't seem to," Saylee said. She grinned. "They have their backs to the door… perfect. When we bust in and attack them from behind, Key, we can release Gimli and Stan past them to protect those three workers."

"Gotcha," Key said, looking at the screen and then at their Pokémon. "Leo, Sally, you guys pin down the woman and the bowlcut, okay?"

"Caelin, go straight for the Glameow," Saylee ordered. "Zoe, it's riskier than Sleep Powder, but try focusing your supersonic on the old man, okay?"

"'Kay," Zoe said clinging to Saylee's shoulder and scowling fiercely.

"Forward, then, to destroy the foe!" Caelin declared. "Oh, and do remember… it is _Princess_ Caelin."

They braced themselves in front of the door, and then moved quickly as soon as Caelin smashed it in. The princess charged the Glameow while Leo and Sally leapt on the bowlcut and redhead, pinning them down. The redhead managed to get out a Purugly, which scratched at Sally for pinning her trainer. Caelin leapt over the unconscious Glameow to attack its fatter evolution.

While that was going on, Saylee flung Gimli's pokéball towards the workers. Key followed suit with Stan's. "Protect the workers!" Saylee ordered as the Pokémon appeared. The captive workers stepped back against the wall as the Geodude and Staravia placed themselves protectively in front of the humans.

Caelin took down the Purugly easily, but the old man just laughed when Zoe flew at him and screeched.

"Think that'll work, do you?" he sneered, tapping a headset that he was wearing. "Mars, you useless girl… the things I do for you!"

"Shut up, Pluto!" the redhead yelled angrily, struggling to throw Sally off of her. "Just do something!"

"Don't move!" Saylee yelled, running towards the old man as he batted Zoe aside. He released a Slowking, which began to glow as it charged up power. "No… that's Focus Blast!"

"Stop him!" Caelin yelled, leaping over the Purugly. Gimli, who was closer, charged the Slowking, arms outstretched. He'd almost reached the powerful water-type when it blasted him at point-blank range.

The shockwave knocked everyone to the floor. There was a _crash_ as Gimli went through the wall. "Gimli!" Saylee screamed, scrambling to her feet and leaning through the crumbling hole in the wall. Her heart stopped when she saw the fresh hole in the ice on the pool behind the windworks. "GIMLI!"

She started to pull her coat off. Key yanked her back by the collar. "What are you _doing_?" she demanded.

"We need to get him out fast!" Saylee yelled.

"I know, that's what we have Philon and Patricia for!" Key yelled, throwing her Psyduck's pokéball through the wall. "Get Gimli! In the water!" she yelled, pointing. Philon nodded and dived in. Saylee released Patricia, sending her to follow, then turned furiously to face Pluto—

Who was gone.

Mars and the grunt were missing too. Sally and Leo were just picking themselves up, stunned by the shockwave of the Focus Blast that hit Gimli.

"The old guy stared at your coat for a moment, then they booked it," Stan reported. "I think he saw that badge inside of your coat when you opened it…"

"This?" Saylee said, pulling open her coat and looking at her dragon emblem. "Mother of…if I'd known it would be that easy to scare them off…"

"Sar, if you had tried to simply intimidate them, would they not have used the hostages as leverage?" Caelin pointed out. She turned to the workers. "Are any of you injured?"

"No, thanks to you," one of the workers said gratefully. "That wall looks like it's about to collapse. Let's head out the door and find your Geodude…"

{ _Jinua 2_ _nd_ _, 2:15 pm_ }

{ _Valley Windworks}_

Philon and Patricia were sitting by the pool, looking dejected, when they got out. Next to them was a squat pink Pokémon with her back covered in wet sand.

"I'm sorry," Philon said shakily. "We grabbed him, we tried to pull him out, we really did…"

"Seine here tried to help," Patricia added, pointing to the little pink Pokémon. "But…"

"He just turned to _sand_ ," Seine mumbled, ducking her head to show them the sand on her back. "Just like that. I'm sorry."

"Hyper-erosion… rock-types are prone to it when they get soaked," Saylee said, dropping to her knees and reaching out to pat Seine gently on the head. "Thank you for trying to help."

"Those bastards!" Stan shrieked. "They _murdered_ him!"

"And they shall not go unpunished," Caelin swore, dipping a thumb in the wet sand and dragging it down her forehead. "They will not be forgiven. _Never_."

"Oh, look, they're okay!"

Saylee and Key looked up and were surprised to see Agent Looker running up to them with a bandaged Budew on his shoulder. "Ah! Saylee and Key!" the Interpol Agent declared. "It is good, if not surprising, to see you!"

"Agent Looker, are you here about Galactic?" Saylee asked, standing up.

"Yes! Hearing I am about their invading of the Valley Windworks!" Looker declared. "But, ah, I see none here! You have defeated them?"

"They got away," Saylee said apologetically.

"One of them was calling their boss," one of the workers volunteered. "He was speaking quietly, so I'm not quite sure what they were talking about, but I swear I heard the word 'Eterna'…"

"Eterna Forest! To the north!" Looker cried, plucking the bandaged Budew off of his shoulder and setting her on the ground. "For your guidance I thank you, Belle, but now go I must! Fare you well, Saylee and Key!" He saluted and shot off.

"Eterna… we _must_ pursue them!" Caelin snarled, flaring up her tail.

"Uh… yeah…" Leo said groggily, stumbling a little.

"Sorry, my ears're still ringing…" Sally said, flattening them pointedly.

"We need to give everyone a rest," Saylee said, scooping up handfuls of sand from Seine's back. "We need to collect and send off Gimli's remains, too. And I'd like to report the descriptions of those intruders, although they should be able to get security footage…"

"And none of us have eaten all day," Key sighed. "We'll go back to the clinic for the night, and then set out in the morning, how about that?"

"…it seems best," Caelin grudgingly agreed.

{}

{}

 _ **Saylee**_

 _RIP Gimli the Geodude, level 6-14_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Kel the Kricketune, Zoe the Zubat, Patricia the Psyduck_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Staravia, Leo the Luxio, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	10. Chapter 9

_Saylee—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 2_ _nd_ _, 4:30pm}_

 _{Floaroma Town}_

"Item teleportation's a bit on and off, but the very next time the teleporters are on, we'll send your Geodude to the Tower," the nurse promised, washing off Seine's back and then carefully collecting and sifting the sand into a small casket. The little Shellos made a happy purring noise under the running water.

"Thank you very much," Saylee said, giving the box full of damp sand a last gentle pat. The Pokémon had already said their goodbyes and were waiting with Key in the room in the inn across the way that Saylee and Key had been given for the night. Saylee could hear the sound of Kel playing her requiem, the gentle music floating through the quiet evening.

The nurse moved over to Belle, who was sitting under a UV lamp, and started unwrapping her bandages. "There's a bit of a scar, but I'm sure you'll grow out of it," she promised, gesturing to the yellowing slash running up one side of the little Budew's face. "Just make sure that you get plenty of sunlight, okay?"

"Of course," Belle said, kissing the nurse's hand. " _Merci beaucoup._ Excuse me!" She toddled along the counter towards Saylee. "Pray tell, how ever did you defeat _les totons_?"

"Our Pokémon are better-trained than most of theirs were," Saylee said with a shrug. "We were stronger this time." _But not stronger than Pluto…_

"Is it true that the Monferno _est la princesse_?" Belle continued curiously.

"She's the youngest sister of Fire Lord Indra of Mt Coronet," Saylee explained. "She's determined to become strong enough to overthrow her brother and be Fire Lord."

"Ha! My kind of girl!" Belle declared with a grin. "Then I have a request. I would like to fight with you in place of your lost ally!"

"You would?" Saylee said, reaching a hand out to the tiny grass-type.

" _Certainement_!" Belle declared, hopping into the proffered hand. "I simply _must_ grow stronger! Plus, you intend to destroy Galactic and avenge your friend, _non_? I, too, must have revenge. That _bande de b_ _âtards_ will never desecrate our Meadow again!"

"Well, let's go talk to Caelin," Saylee said with a little smile. "I'm sure she'd be happy to have you."

On the way to the inn, Saylee and Belle stopped by the police station, intending to see how the interrogation was going. Inside, however, they saw the police officer arguing with a middle-aged man in a blue suit.

"My clients are not obligated to answer any of your questions, officer," the blue suit said flatly, running a hand briefly through his spiky, swept-back black hair before shoving both hands in his trouser pockets. "They will only be speaking to me until their trial."

"Excuse me," Saylee said, stepping before the irate-looking police officer could speak again, "but are you Galactic's legal counsel?"

"…May I ask who you are?" the lawyer asked, looking her up and down. "You're not with the police here."

"We are of the retinue of Princess Caelin of Coronet!" Belle said proudly.

"And I'm Sar Saylee of Kanto," Saylee said, pulling her dragon emblem out of her coat. The Lawyer tapped it tentatively, then nodded. "Now. Are you Galactic's legal counsel?"

"Clients of mine are currently being held at this station," the man said robotically. "I am here as their legal counsel."

"But you were also defending two members of Galactic personnel arrested in Jubilife City," Saylee pointed out. "You're defending them on behalf of Galactic Energy Corp?"

"Those two individuals are also my clients," the lawyer replied flatly. "To discuss any further details would be a breach of client confidentiality. I am not here to answer questions about my clients." His body language was odd; he was looking Saylee in the eyes when he spoke, but his gaze was glazed and he held himself extremely stiffly, almost statuesque, allowing himself not even the slightest fidget.

"I have to interrogate your clients!" the police officer demanded, red-faced.

"You are welcome to," the lawyer said, turning his blank gaze on the officer, "but as their legal counsel I have advised them not to answer any questions."

 _This isn't going anywhere,_ Saylee thought with a frustrated grimace. "I suspect we'll meet again at the trial, Mr…?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Mr Court," he said, shaking her hand. "See you at the trial, Sar. I'm afraid, due to some issues at the Prosecutor's office, it might be some time coming."

"Plenty of time to get more of them, then," Saylee said. For a second, Court's face twitched, almost like he was going to smile, but then he just nodded.

"May I ask, Sar, what it is that just happened?" Belle asked as Saylee stepped outside of the station.

"Galactic might be claiming to know nothing about these incidents, but they sent the same lawyer out to this one as the Jubilife incident," Saylee said thoughtfully. "He's keeping them quiet in interrogation and blocking the trials, which is making it damn hard to pin Galactic down for anything…" She sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Forget about it. So long as they're in holding, they're not committing any more crimes. Come on, let's go introduce you to Caelin…"

{ _Jinua 3_ _rd_ _, 6:17pm_ }

{ _Route 205}_

The road to Eterna Forest was a long uphill trek. Saylee and Key spent most of the day determinedly climbing upwards. Belle and Basma rode on their shoulders, soaking up the cold sunlight. Stan flew overhead, scouting out the path ahead, but he reported no sign of Galactic or Looker—in the cold of winter, there weren't even any travelling trainers. Caelin, Leo, Sally and Terra were ahead of the girls, Caelin riding on Sally's back and Terra on Leo's while the strong Luxio climbed up the steep path easily. Terra explained the layout and ecosystem of the forest during their climb.

"Leaf Lord Teria has but one daughter, Tanya," Terra explained. "As she is a certain Leaf Lord, she must of course find a mate among our clan. Since the alliances between our clans are normally kept through the marriages of younger siblings, such as my lady and Prince, this has of course been problematic. Instead, there was an exchange of handmaids such as myself."

"Did you want to go?" Key asked.

"Oh, yes!" Terra insisted. "I left Princess Tanya's service voluntarily. I was curious to see the mighty mountain…"

"We are grateful every day for that," Caelin said with a fond smile. "We could have no better companion by our side."

"We won't be going through the Eterna court, will we?" Saylee asked, looking up at the bulk of the forest ahead.

"Heavens, no!" Terra said quickly. "It is in the very depths of the forest, where humans do not venture."

"Don't you have any family there that you want to visit, though?" Sally asked, glancing back over her shoulder.

"No…" Terra said uncomfortably. "My parents did not approve of my leaving the service of the Eterna heir in favour of a youngest daughter. I fear that there will be only scorn and ridicule for me if I return to them before my lady is Fire Lord."

"We are conflicted," Caelin mused. "You are our dearest friend and confidante, and it is our inclination to burn any who would ridicule you. However, they _are_ your family."

"Maybe we should leave off the family visit for now, huh?" Leo laughed.

" _Princesse_ , you are a wonder," Belle declared. "Such a gentle and relaxed air you have to those who are yours, but when they are _en danger_ —such passionate rage! Truly, you make my heart skip a beat," she sighed.

"We only wish that we could vow that none of you would ever see harm," Caelin replied, blushing somewhat at Belle's unsubtle adoration, "but Sean, Bob and Gimli already lie testament to our failure."

"You can't always protect everyone," Saylee told the Monferno, pressing a hand to the fire-type's warm shoulder, "but you can know that you did your damndest to try and see that they didn't die for nothing."

"Wise words, Sar," Caelin said softly. "If they died that we may live, then it is no less than our duty and imperative to become Fire Lord and protect this land from the likes of Galactic."

"Aren't any of the rulers doing anything about Galactic _now_?" Key complained.

"No," Caelin growled. "As yet, it is seen as a human affair, to be dealt with by humans. Such foolish divisiveness will doom us all!"

Stan flew down towards them. "There's a couple of ladies setting up camp outside of the forest," he reported. "They've got one of those little cloth nests and everything."

"The forest is best traversed in the light of day," Terra suggested. "In the night, they say, things creep out of the Old Chateau…"

"What's _that_?" Basma squeaked.

"An old house in the forest," Terra explained, shivering. "I know nothing of it, but that it is forbidden to enter and filled with ghosts."

"We can skip that," Saylee said immediately.

"Shivering, Sar?" Belle laughed. "Does the brave knight fear ghosts?"

"If a ghost had possessed your best friend and made him try to kill you when you were fifteen, you'd be a little scarred for life too," Saylee said, hauling herself up a steep ridge. "And that's not even the _worst_ thing to have ever happened to me in Lavender Town. Hey, there they are!"

Two women were sitting next to a roaring fire, with a large green tent behind them. It had a pokéball insignia on it that Saylee recognized as being the emblem of the Sinnoh Rangers. The woman with long dress in the same shade of green as her hair was helping her Chansey to nurse an injured Ponyta, while a woman with curly brown hair and a red hat and coat was stirring something over the fire.

"Hi there!" Saylee called, waving. "Are you rangers?"

"I am!" the woman in the red hat called, waving back. "I'm Di. This here is my partner Pearl…" She patted the injured Ponyta's muzzle. "We're lucky we ran into Cheryl and Claire here."

"We're nurses, and we're heading to the clinic in Eterna City," Cheryl explained. "It's rather urgent. Three nursing Chansey have gone missing and they're very understaffed."

"I'm Sar Saylee of Kanto, and also a ranger," Saylee explained, walking up to the fire, "and this is Key, Champion of Hoenn." They released and introduced their Pokémon. "Mind if we borrow your fire to make dinner?"

"You're welcome to it," Di said, pulling her pot off of the fire and pouring the stew inside into a couple of bowls. "If some've you want to pile into the tent, the more the merrier—and the warmer!"

"Thank you very much," Saylee said gratefully, beginning to pull various types of food out of her bag.

"So, what brings a Kanto ranger-knight and a Hoenn champ to Sinnoh?" Di asked, shuffling back to give them room to cook. "Same thing that brought that Interpol officer who rushed by us this morning, I bet… Galactic Corp?"

"Well, we came for the missing Aqua leader and stayed for the Galactic," Saylee quipped. "Got to admit, Galactic's worrying me a little more right now."

"We passed by a bunch of them earlier today," Pearl sighed. "I'm sorry, Di… I wasn't strong enough to take them down."

"Don't apologize, Pearl, we were outnumbered six to one," Di insisted, stroking her Ponyta's muzzle.

"Pearl's going to be alright, though," Claire, the Chansey, promised. " _We're_ glad to have strong trainers going through the forest with us. We tried last week, but we fled right back out again… I'm a healer, not a fighter!"

"There was fighting in the forest?" Terra asked nervously.

"Yes, green-haired men all over the place fighting something _huge_!" Cheryl complained. "Oh, it was awful. I don't know for sure what was going on, but we had to get out right away. We were too scared to try going back in until Di and Pearl came by..."

"The six who passed you must have been the ones from the Valley Windworks," Key said, helping dish up the food for the Pokémon while Saylee put their own dinner over the fire. "One of them was calling someone about 'Eterna'… they must have been planning something there."

"Forgive us," Caelin apologized, accepting her dinner from Patricia. "Pearl, you were injured because we failed to capture the Galactic scoundrels at the Windworks."

"At least you threw the four _b_ _âtards_ from the Meadow into jail," Belle reassured her.

"Don't expect them to stay there," Di said bitterly. "The police are not being helpful in dealing with Galactic… investigations keep getting cancelled, prisoners released, rangers referred for evaluation…"

"Evaluation?" Key asked.

"Rangers get a lot of independence and freedom to make legally dubious judgement calls," Saylee explained, "but we have to keep to high standards. You've got to attend an ethical and psychological evaluation at least once a year, as well as any time some other authority refers you for one."

"I'm just glad that the evaluations are run by the League and not by the police," Di grumbled, "otherwise I bet there'd be a lot of fired rangers right about now. I mean, I know all referrals have to be taken seriously, but come on, I've been sent five times in the last eight months!"

"Seriously?" Saylee said in surprise.

"Seriously," Di said with a nod. "A lot of rangers are getting sent in even more frequently. I mean, you know there's no upper limit to how many times you can be referred, no matter how well you pass, right? I know accountability's important, but this is just abusing the system. It's a waste of my time and a pain in my ass, especially since a good dozen rangers have gone missing in Eterna since the Galactic Corp building was built there…" She scowled and dropped her spoon loudly into her empty bowl. "I knew a couple of them. They were planning to investigate that building, and I bet the other rangers were too. But the police immediately take Galactic Corp's assurances that they know nothing about the missing rangers without investigating properly."

"Sounds like a pile of crap to me," Leo opined.

"Lies and 'tankshit," Sally agreed.

"Well, if the police are corrupted, thank goodness for rangers," Cheryl declared. "Are you planning to investigate the corporation yourself, Di?"

"Of course," Di said firmly. "I'm going to find out what the hell's happened to my friends. I'll sneak in, try to get some incriminating evidence, and then get in touch with a guy I know who works in TV in Jubilife. The police and Galactic can't suppress evidence that the entire country's seen on the nine o'clock news."

"Commendably brave," Caelin said. "Allow us to join you… ah, but we must also speak to the Eterna leader, must we not?"

"Yeah… we need to see if Archie battled them for a badge," Key said thoughtfully.

"Gardenia? I gotta warn you, she doesn't even _see_ anybody who can't battle past her girlfriends," Di laughed. "League guidelines don't permit a leader to share details of their challengers, normally, but I bet you can get what you need if you pull rank, Sar."

"I guess I'm coming in with you, then," Saylee said, pulling open her lapel to show her dragon emblem.

"We must find Archie in order to find Prince," Terra insisted. "They might still be in Eterna City. We must find out immediately if they are!"

"Tell you what," Di said thoughtfully, "if we leave at first light tomorrow, we should easily make it through the forest a couple of hours before sundown, and I'm sure not doing any B&E without the cover of darkness. I can get Pearl healed properly at the centre and scope out the building while you're at the gym."

"This seems a wise plan," Caelin agreed. "Zoe and Zoran could, perhaps, 'scope out the building' with you, as they did at the Valley Windworks?"

"Sure," Zoran said.

"We'll do our best!" Zoe agreed. "We'll keep a good watch out tonight again, too!"

"Well, this _is_ exciting," Belle said happily. "We must be sure to train extra hard tonight in order to prepare!"

"Finish your dinner and we'll get right on that," Saylee promised. _Maybe getting the Valley Windworks back online means that the teleporters work again… I'd feel better about doing this with Eric and Perun, or Toby and Mary…_

 _{Jinua 4_ _th_ _, 10:08 am}_

 _{Eterna Forest}_

"Well, there _were_ tacky-ass humans with green hair," Belladonna the Buneary said, flicking her fluffy ear, "until about a week ago. I don't know if they thought they were camouflaged or what, but let me tell you, it did _not_ work. Most of them got wiped out by this huge, angry Gyarados… is 'angry Gyarados' just repetitive, though? Aren't they always?"

"Gyarados don't live in this forest," Terra muttered nervously. "There are rivers, but they're too small…"

"So where did this Gyarados come from, _chérie_?" Belle asked, leaning close to the Buneary that she was questioning.

"Oh, he was here with some humans," Belladonna sighed. "He didn't leave with 'em. Poor thing got dead, and then his trainer _really_ flipped his shit, y'know? Oh, it was _awful_ …"

"Never fear, _chérie_ , Princess Caelin is sworn to destroy that _bande de b_ _âtards_ ," Belle promised.

"Oh, I would love to help!" Belladonna said enthusiastically. "Those bastards got my sisters! And I am _pissed_ at Leaf Lord Teria just now. I'm sorry, sweetie," she added to Terra, "but your people are the slowest shits in the forest, I swear to Moss. They didn't turn up to help until _after_ everything was over and done with. They're wandering around repairing trees right now, but really, _seriously_ …" She sighed with irritation.

"You are welcome to join our royal army," Caelin said with a slight frown, "but we will require that you cease and desist with your insolence to the mighty clans with which we hope to be allied once we are Fire Lord."

"Sure thing, Princess," Belladonna promised immediately, "iiiiif one of you can _show_ me just how strong you are… you can talk the talk, sweetie," she said to Belle, flicking an ear and winking, "but can you walk the walk?"

"Watch me, _chérie_ ," Belle said, twisting open her bud. "Orders, Sar?"

"Stun her!" Saylee ordered.

"I thought I was," Belle said smoothly, dodging Belladonna's attempt to strike the tiny Budew with her ears and spraying the Buneary with yellow powder. "Nice try, _chérie,_ but too slow!"

"Now, Bullet Seed!" Saylee ordered. Belle sprayed seeds all over Belladonna, who collapsed and was captured a moment later by Saylee, who opened up her Pokédex to send it through to her safety location, her stepfather Byron's gym. Other Pokémon that Caelin had recruited to her cause had been sent there, training together as Caelin's private army, led by a Machop called Miller. Saylee's mother texted her regular updates on their progress, which was apparently enthusiastic.

"You are a highly effective recruiter, Belle," Caelin commented.

"I am not worthy of your praise, _ma belle princesse_ ," Belle said with a bow. "…Although I have often been told that I am _irrésistible_." She winked at Caelin. " _Very_ often."

"…Quite," Caelin said, staring at her.

"So, this is your home, huh?" Basma said, looking around from her perch on Terra's back. "It's very pretty."

"It's… normally different," Terra said, looking around uneasily as they progressed through the forest. It looked as if, normally, it was dark and dense, but there were long strips of fallen trees around furrows in the ground that Saylee recognized as the tracks of an angry Gyarados. The gaps were dusted with snow, while the rest of the forest was coated with iced-over moss. The Gyarados had likely used many water attacks, contributing to the thick ice layer that had them carefully walking in Caelin and Pearl's warm, melted footsteps. Their footing was made even worse when they had to detour from the path to get around a fallen tree, which was often. Cheryl and Di rode on Pearl's back, with Claire in her pokéball unless she was needed to heal an injured Pokémon. Sally and Leo, with their sharp claws, didn't have too much trouble with the slippery terrain, so Terra, Basma, Belle and Kel were riding on their backs, while Patricia and Philon hid in their pokéballs and Zoe, Zoran and Stan flew overhead.

"You sure have an unusual menagerie of Pokémon," Di commented, watching Caelin haul aside some broken branches from the path. If wild Pokémon were around, they were mostly avoiding the group. "Why does the Princess put two stripes of blood on her forehead every morning?"

"She considers them a vow of vengeance," Saylee sighed. "She won't stop making them until she punishes a Galactic member called 'Pluto', who killed our Geodude, and a blue-haired man who killed our Starly." _I guess she figures she already avenged Bob…_

"Oh, that's awful," Cheryl gasped. "Di, have you heard of them?"

"Not that Pluto guy, no," Di mused. "Give me a descrip and I'll keep an eye out for him in the Galactic Corp building. Have you put out a report on the blue-haired guy?"

"Yeah, you should be able to find his description at the police station," Saylee said. "The blue-haired guy…" Di expanded her pokétch screen and took notes while Saylee and Key described the dead-eyed, blue-haired man.

"Terra? Is that you?"

"Takeshi!" Terra called, waving to another Turtwig who crawled around a fallen tree ahead of them. "I'm glad you're okay! I heard that there was quite the commotion here."

"Yeah, seven days on and we're still cleaning up," Takeshi said, peering around at the other Pokémon. "Wow. You've sure met a lot of funny Pokémon, huh?"

"Everyone, this is my friend Takeshi," Terra said. "Takeshi, aside from the Ponyta and the humans on her back, everyone here is a member of the retinue of Princess Caelin of Coronet… except for the Princess herself, of course," she added, nodding to Caelin.

"Ah… forgive me, Princess," Takeshi said, bowing to her. "Will you be calling on the court?"

"Not today," Caelin said, shaking her head. "But give the Leaf Lord and the Princess our fondest wishes and hopes for their good health, and tell them that we must make haste to destroy the scoundrels that have desecrated this forest."

"The trails are all messed up," Terra said morosely. "Takeshi, do you know a good way to get through to Eterna City?"

"The human one?" Takeshi said, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Well… get down into the Gyarados trail just past this tree and follow it. It goes pretty much all the way to the Old Chateau, and then the path's clear past there."

"We thank you, Takeshi," Caelin said with a slight bow of the head. "We will call upon this forest again when time is less pressing." They waved, nodded or bowed to Takeshi as they passed him, climbing into the furrow left by the angry Gyarados. It had filled with a shallow layer of water and iced over, making the footing downright treacherous. Saylee and Key both clung closely to Pearl as they made their way along the icy scar in the landscape.

"Oh," Cheryl gasped, pointing to a patch of dark ice. As they walked past it, they realized that the darkness was frozen blood.

"Takeshi said that the Gyarados was killed," Terra said quietly. "Galactic are awful…"

"Hey, I think we're nearly there!" Zoe called, flying back over them. "Check this out!"

"It's really creepy!" Zoran added. "It's a big house covered in plants…"

"That is the Old Chateau," Terra said nervously. "We must not go inside!"

"We won't," Key promised. "Hey, Di, do you know what the deal is with that place?"

"The Old Chateau? I hear it's been abandoned since the last owner went _dangerously_ depressed over his wife's death, murdered his young daughter and then killed himself," Di said with a shrug. "That was about fifty years ago. I think it went to the owner's brother or something, but if it did he's never lived there. I can't blame him. It _is_ still private property, strictly speaking, so going in there would be kinda illegal in addition to being really creepy."

"We don't really want to go in anyway," Saylee said fervently, shivering as they walked up the slope at the end of the furrow and found themselves at the rusty, ivy-covered gates of an old manor house. The building looked about as big as her grandparents' place in Mahogany, Saylee estimated, but two floors high rather than one and in a gothic stone style rather than ancient Indigo.

A deeply worn dirt path ran along the crumbling stone walls outside of the house. They followed it along, occasionally glancing nervously over or through the cracked walls at the imposing black house. Saylee thought, more than once, that she saw red eyes peering out of a window, but they always vanished whenever she looked at them properly. _Maybe I'm just imagining things…_

"How about some music to cheer everyone up?" Kel suggested. She started to play a bouncy, upbeat tune that incorporated jovial whistling.

"I do believe that I know this song!" Belle put in. " _He whistled and he sang 'til the green woods rang, and he won the heart of the la-a-a-dy~_ "

"Your Budew has a beautiful voice," Cheryl commented as Belle sang along to Kel's playing.

"You learn something new every day," Saylee said, feeling her spirits lift somewhat as the music carried them past the Old Chateau.

"Beautiful!" Caelin declared once the song was finished. Everyone cheered. "We still have a ways to go through the forest, so let us hear another song!"

"Kel, _chérie_ ¸ do tell me that you know _Defying Gravity_ ," Belle said excitedly. In response, Kel began to play again.

{}

{}

 _Happy Halloween, all! I really badly want to go to the Hearthome Festival that Key made up XD We have also made up a crapton of minor characters for this region, a good chunk of which are based on our favourite gay lawyers, and their subplot is largely here to explain why Galactic appear to be immune to the intervention of law… Also, the boys fighting_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Belle. Species: Budew. Nature: Hardy. Ability: Poison Point. Acquired: Route 204_

 _Name: Seine. Species: Shellos. Nature: Mild. Ability: Storm Drain. Acquired: Valley Windworks_

 _Name: Belladonna. Species: Buneary. Nature: Sassy. Ability: Klutz. Acquired: Eterna Forest._

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Connery. Species: Combee. Nature: Modest. Ability: Honey Gather. Acquired: Floaroma Meadow_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Kel the Kricketune, Zoe the Zubat, Patricia the Psyduck, Belle the Budew_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Staravia, Leo the Luxio, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	11. Chapter 10

_Saylee—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 3_

 _Key—Pokémon: 7 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

 _{Jinua 4_ _th_ _, 3:18 pm}_

 _{Eterna City}_

Eterna seemed about as large as Jubilife, but the buildings weren't as tall and they were spread out, with more space given over to grass, trees and flowers, giving Eterna a much airier, more natural feel. On entering the city, a police officer requested that they keep all Pokémon inside of their pokéballs and those pokéballs hidden as a preventative measure against a rash of mysterious Pokémon kidnappings, so Saylee, Key, Di and Cheryl returned all of their Pokémon to their pokéballs—even Caelin, under protest.

Cheryl immediately rushed off to the Pokémon Centre, with Di following after agreeing to meet Saylee and Key in front of the Galactic Corp building at sunset.

"You can't miss it," the ranger said, pointing north. "It's that giant ugly monstrosity up at the far end of the city."

" _Monstrosity_ seems like a good word for it," Key agreed as she and Saylee walked towards the Galactic Corp building, scoping it out before returning to find the gym. It really was hard to miss, completely ill-fitting as it was to the aesthetic of the rest of the city. Only about half of the height of the building was actually _building_ ; on top of it was some kind of huge silver sphere with spikes protruding from it and a glowing yellow ring spinning steadily around it.

"What even _is_ that?" Saylee asked, staring up at it. "Aside from ugly as sin? ACK!"

Someone crashed into Saylee hard, sending her sprawling. "Aw no! I am _so_ sorry!" a frantic voice said. "Oh! Hey! It's you again!"

"You're that kid," Saylee realized as the lanky blond boy offered her a hand back up and Key bent over laughing. "From Oreburgh…?"

"Yeah! We seem to run into each other a lot eh?" the blond said bashfully. "Or I run into you! I'm seriously so _so_ sorry!"

"Don't worry, it was an accident," Saylee said, trying to surreptitiously rub her elbow, which was sore from banging into the ground. "We should probably introduce ourselves properly if you're gonna keep knocking me over. I'm Saylee."

"And I'm Key," Key giggled, shaking the boy's hand. "What's your name?"

"Barry!" the kid said, straightening his green scarf. "Tell you what! I'll make it up to you by showing you something really cool! C'mon!" He grabbed Saylee and Key both by the hand and ran off, tugging them down the road. Saylee and Key glanced at each other, laughed, and then ran along with him.

"What are you going to show us?" Saylee asked.

"The Pokémon statue! I hear it's really cool!" Barry said, pulling them up the steps to a plateau. He stopped sharply, staring at the bronze statue ahead of them and the person staring at its base. "What the…?"

Saylee yanked her hand out of Barry's and stepped defensively in front of him the moment that she saw the blue-haired, cold-eyed man in the long grey coat standing in front of the brass statue. She didn't register much of the statue, focused entirely on the man who was making her blood boil. She saw Key reach for her pokéballs and grabbed the blonde's arm to stop her. _Even Caelin isn't strong enough just yet to do anything about that Sneasel that he had before, and it's probably not his only Pokémon. We can't fight this guy right now, not in a Pokémon battle._ She inched her hand into the pocket inside of her coat pocket, the one where she kept her utility knife. _If it comes to it, though, he's not going to get a chance to go for his Pokémon._

"...So, this is Eterna's Pokémon statue..." the man mused aloud, staring at the statue without registering their presence. "Shaping our world are time and space in an intertwining spiral. Revered in Sinnoh are the Pokémon of time and space..."

"Who's that guy?" Barry said, confused. Saylee and Key ignored him, glaring at the blue-haired man. "Do you know him or something?"

"Sinnoh's myth..." the man mused, looking down and then turning to walk away from the statue. "Its truth needs investigation..." He walked towards them, not really seeming to see them until he was almost on top of them. "…Pardon me. Stand aside," he ordered. Saylee pushed Key and Barry back, glaring at the blue-haired man the whole time. He didn't look at them, not really; his dead eyes slid over them, but it was clear that he didn't recognize them from before and had already forgotten their faces before he stepped off of the plaza.

Saylee grabbed her Pokégear, dialled the Sinnoh police number and got put through to the Eterna station. "I'd like to report the sighting of a reported Pokémon-killer," she said, rattling off the case number of Sean's death and the description and location of the sighting while Key and Barry watch the guy walk away, the former looking angry and the latter confused.

" _Thank you for the report, Sar,"_ the officer on the other end said. " _We'll dispatch officers to take him in immediately and inform you on any developments._ "

"Thank you," Saylee said, hanging up but feeling uneasy. _I can't take that guy right now, and I'm here for Galactic, not him, so it's not my job to arrest him. But if what Di said is true and the police are corrupt, can I count on them to bring him in and prosecute him properly…?_

"That was _weird_ ," Barry decided, then turned back to the statue with a shrug and a grin. "Anyway! Check it out! How cool is this?" He gestured to the huge bronze statue. "It's the Pokémon statue!"

Saylee stared at the statue for a good long while, trying to figure out what it was. It didn't quite look like any Pokémon that she'd ever seen before. Its head had a long protrusion at the back, and it had a lengthy, spiky tail. She wasn't sure if it was bipedal or just a quadruped on its hind legs. Round orblike protrusions and sharp spikes extended from its body at random points.

On the statue's plinth was a pair of plaques. They had been violently scratched and scarred, making them all but indecipherable.

"Who the hell would do something like this?" Key complained, peering at the plaques. "Vandalizing a gorgeous statue like this is just the worst…"

"Creation of Dia…" Saylee murmured, crouching down to look closely at the plagues. "…giver of... time…? In lau… laughter… and, likewise… the same time… blessing of Dia…" She shook her head. "It's too scratched-up to make it out properly." The other plaque was in similar condition.

"Ceez! That's awful!" Barry complained. "I bet they said something cool! Like old poetry or something! Oh hey!" He spun around to face them with a huge grin on his face. "When we smacked together a brilliant flash of inspiration came to me! An easy way to become a great Trainer! Yeah! That! All right! Listen close..."

"We're listening," Saylee said patiently.

"Make certain all your attacks hit!" Barry declared, as if he was sharing a mighty revelation. "Avoid enemy attacks for sure! You do that and you'd never lose! You'd be the invincible Trainer! Anyway… gotta go tell my friends about the Pokémon statue. See you around!" He shot off at top speed.

"You could probably power a small city off of that guy," Key commented as they watched him go. Saylee let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding as she watched the boy run off in the opposite direction to where Cyrus had gone. "You okay? That was really tense for a minute… who'd have expected _him_ to be here? He didn't recognize us, did he?"

"No," Saylee said, shaking her head, knowing that Key was referring to the dead-eyed man. "I doubt he even remembers that he murdered Sean. I doubt it's the kind of thing that matters to someone like him…" She clenched and unclenched her fists a couple of times. "I wanted to punch that guy so much, you wouldn't believe. I swear I thought my heart was going to stop, seeing him when Barry was _right there_ …"

"Are you sure Barry's going to be okay, running off on his own like that?" Key said with concern. "You said that dead-eyed man is particularly a threat to Dawn and Lucas, and I'm guessing Barry too?"

"They went off in different directions," Saylee said, shaking her head. "Besides, for now… we're still not strong enough. Even if his Sneasel hasn't got any stronger than it was at Lake Verity… Silver has a Weavile that he raised from a Sneasel. I know how they grow. That one was tough, much tougher than we are now, without our older Pokémon." She bit her lip as she stared at the scratched-out inscriptions on the base of the statue. "Why was he interested in _them_ …?"

"In what?" Key asked, staring up at the statue. "Do you know what that thing is, anyway?"

"I don't know what _that_ is," Saylee said gesturing to the statue, "but the inscriptions… one mentions 'Dia' and time, and the other mentions 'Pal' and space. I'm pretty sure that they're talking about Dialga and Palkia, guardians of time and space."

"What's that mean, guardians?" Key asked curiously.

"Guards and creators," Saylee explained. "Dialga… other Pokémon can travel in time, like Celebi, but only Dialga can actually _control_ it, and it has the duty to make sure that time goes in one direction at a uniform pace. Just the same, Palkia can warp space to create wormholes or distorted, unreal spaces, and it's Palkia's job to make sure that exactly that _doesn't_ happen."

"Y'know, the damage to these looks recent," Key pointed out. "There are probably people around here who know what they said."

"Yeah, but with everything going on in Eterna, I don't want to take the time or risk asking around," Saylee said, shaking her head. "Hey, your friend Aggie; does he study all legendary Pokémon or just the Hoenn ones?"

"If it was around and causing trouble four thousand or more years ago, he knows about it," Key said, getting out her pokégear. "Pretty sure he's in Sinnoh just now on an internship. I'll give him a call."

{ _Jinua 4_ _th_ _, 4:35 pm_ }

{ _Eterna Gym, Eterna City}_

" _The creation of DIALGA, The giver of time... In laughter, there is tears... And, likewise it is with time. The same time flows on. For it is the blessing of DIALGA._

 _The birth of PALKIA. The creator of parallel dimensions... Alive, yet not alive... Everything drifts in space... To arrive in the same universe. It is the blessing of PALKIA."_

Saylee read over the words that Aggie had texted her while Stan Wing Attacked his way through Gardenia's gym. Something about the words kept bugging her, and the statue itself. _Why combine Dialga and Palkia in the same statue? And why just the two of them? Gods tend to either be in a triad or be master of one. Dialga and Palkia aren't master over anything, except for everything. So what's the third member? Arceus? Is there a third member at all? What did that man mean by the "truth of the myth"? What is he planning?_

 _And that woman…_

Saylee and Key had headed back towards the Eterna gym after Barry had left. In front of the Galactic Corp building, however, they had been stopped by a gorgeous woman with the longest blonde hair that Saylee had ever seen.

" _Excuse me, I'm looking for a man named Cyrus. Have you seen him?"_

" _What does he look like?"_

" _He has dark blue hair, kind of a big forehead, often wears a long grey coat—"_

" _Him!"_

" _Yes, I have some very pressing questions for him. Have you seen him?"_

" _He was—"_

" _Not recently, sorry…"_

The woman had hurried off, leaving Saylee to breathe a sigh of relief when she went in a different direction than they had seen Cyrus go. Key had taken one look at Saylee's face and instantly picked up why.

 _Four now,_ Saylee thought with a sigh as she and Key climbed onto the moving hands of the beautiful and elaborate floral clock. _What is it with this country? Four avatars, not counting Silver, and a man running around who's a danger to all of them. We just came to find that bloody idiot Archie, and… balls,_ he's _one too…_

They stepped off of the clock and found themselves on a smooth, regulation-sized battlefield covered with grass and surrounded by trees and bushes. An orange-haired young woman in a green cape with brown cargo pants was crouched at the far end, tending the leaves on a Turtwig.

"Tarhe!" Terra called from Key's arms. "How are you?"

"Hey, Terra!" Tarhe replied. "You're with a human now?"

"No, I am still with my lady," Terra said. "She's just in a pokéball right now because they wouldn't let us in with an open flame."

" _Ma belle princesse_ was _not_ pleased about that," Belle commented from her perch on Saylee's shoulder. "Shall we finish this and be on our way?"

"Yeah, it's getting dark," Basma agreed. She was sitting on Key's shoulder, but hopped off to go play in some of the flowers growing around the battlefield.

"Hey, don't talk like it's going to be easy!" the Leader laughed, standing up. She had bushy ginger hair and an enthusiastic smile. "Although, you _do_ have a winning aura… this could be fun! Alright, I'm Gardenia, and this is Tarhe! Let's do this!" Tarhe plodded forwards onto the battlefield. "Who am I fighting?"

"That'll be me!" Key said, flinging out Stan's pokéball, "and Stan! Wing Attack!"

The battle was, thankfully, quick; Stan's flight made it almost impossible for Gardenia's Pokémon to hit him, while his Wing Attack devastated first Tarhe, then a Cherrim, and finally a Roserade. The Roserade, Blodwen, lasted the longest, her Magical Leaf chasing Stan around the high glass ceiling of the greenhouse gym.

"Beautiful, is it not?" Belle sighed.

"D'you think _we'll_ ever be Roserade like that?" Basma said in quiet awe.

"Of course, _pétale_ ," Belle said, watching Stan strike Blodwen down. "But we shall be _much_ stronger than _that_ poor flower. Is that the battle won?"

"It is!" Gardenia gasped, returning Blodwen. "Amazing! You are good, aren't you?" She jogged across the field towards Saylee and Key, digging in a pocket of her cape. "I might've said it before, but you're really tough! Wasn't it hard for you to raise your Pokémon to be so good?"

"Not when they're already pretty awesome," Key said, stroking Stan's beak while the Staravia preened proudly.

"I guess that's a measure of how much you love your Pokémon," Gardenia laughed, holding out a silver-and-green badge made up of three green squares tilted like diamonds. "In recognition of that, I proudly grant you this! The Forest Badge!"

"Great!" Key said, opening her coat and pinning it next to the Coal Badge, under her eight Hoenn badges. Gardenia's eyes bugged. "Now, I need to ask you about your previous challengers."

"Key's the Hoenn Champion, and I'm Sar Saylee of Kanto," Saylee explained, shaking Gardenia's hand and showing her dragon emblem. "I know challenger information is meant to be confidential, but we have some questions that we need you to answer."

"Wow, no wonder you're so strong!" Gardenia gasped, putting her hands on her hips. "What do you need?"

"We need to know if you've recently faced a certain challenger," Saylee asked. "A tall, fairly buff man with black hair and a Hoennian accent. He might've had a Piplup, or a Shinx or Luxio... Does that ring any bells?"

"Well… there was this guy who _was_ tall and had those Pokémon, though he didn't have that hair or accent," Gardenia said thoughtfully. "He had the most insane Luxio I've ever _seen_. She wiped out my entire gym! An electric-type!"

"Did he have a Coal Badge?" Saylee asked.

Gardenia nodded. "I recommended he go to Hearthome next, but I don't know if he was going that way."

"When was that?" Key asked quickly.

"Hmmm… six days ago?" Gardenia hazarded. "That sound like who you're looking for? Who _are_ you looking for?"

"Archibald Irving," Saylee said, bringing up the wanted poster on her Pokégear.

Gardenia peered closely at the picture, her eyes widening. "That _was_ him!" she exclaimed, shivering. "Can't believe we had a guy like _that_ in my _gym!_ No wonder his Luxio was nuts!"

"Well, we're glad to hear he didn't do any permanent damage," Saylee said, closing the wanted poster. She noticed the time on the corner of her Pokégear display. "Crap! We got here well later than we meant to. We're late to meet Di. Come on, let's go!"

{ _Jinua 4_ _th_ _, 7:11 pm_ }

{ _Eterna City}_

"I hope she didn't go in on her own…" Saylee said, looking around as they paced in front of the Galactic Corp building. Di and Pearl were nowhere to be found in the gloom, and in fact there wasn't even a visible entrance to the building, just stone walls as high as their elbows with six feet of dense hedge growing on top.

"Yeah, a dozen missing rangers just sounds like trouble for her," Key agreed, releasing Zoran. Saylee released Zoe. "You guys go scope out the Galactic building, okay?"

The Zubat flew over the hedge and around the building while Saylee and Key crept along the hedged walls. Saylee ran her hand along the hedge as they went. She was surprised to feel a sudden give in the dense hedge. "Hey, look," she said, pushing her hand through. "Somebody's cut through here…" she pushed the pile of loose leaves through and hauled herself up to climb through the hole left behind. She helped Key from the other side, then pushed the leaves back into place. In the dark, the gap in the hedge was unnoticeable.

Zoe and Zoran flew down to perch on their trainers' shoulders. "This place is kinda way bigger than the Windworks…" Zoran began nervously.

"There's too many people and Pokémon and machines and walls inside," Zoe added. "It's too confusing."

"That's okay, you did your best," Saylee said, scratching Zoe's ears. The little blue Pokémon grinned widely.

"Oh, but there's two humans going in a window around the back," Zoran added.

"Two? Has Di got backup?" Saylee asked, following Zoe and Zoran as they flew off around the building. They spotted a guy standing on a Camerupt's back and pushing a girl through a high open window.

"What the—" Key exclaimed before slapping her hands over her mouth to quiet herself. "Bacent, Ledah, what the hell are you doing here?" she hissed. "Is Rob with you? What the actual hell?"

"Hey, it's Key!" Bacent whispered, giving Ledah a last push. She vanished through the window. "Rob decided to hang back at the gym. Heir to the Leadership and all, unless you've changed your mind on that. Hey, it's Saylee too! What're you guys doing here?"

"I mean, obviously, we're here stealing stuff," Ledah hissed, leaning through the window and reaching down a hand to help someone up, nearly invisible in the dark between her black hair and a black mask covering the lower half of her face. "We heard that these guys were stealing Pokémon and decided to bring the karma. Plus, this corporation got big and rich fast. I bet we can find ourselves some account numbers and offshore account our way into the big money."

"They're not just stealing Pokémon," Saylee muttered, watching Key get a boost up from Bacent to take Ledah's hand. "A dozen rangers that've tried to investigate this place have gone missing…"

"Heh, I bet they were the ones who cut that nifty hole in the hedge," Bacent grunted, pushing Key through the window. The Champion pulled Saylee and then Bacent through onto the pile of packing crates on the other side, then Ledah leaned out of the window again and returned her Camerupt before they climbed down the pile of boxes.

At the bottom, Saylee and Key released Caelin, Terra, Sally and Leo. Ledah released Quillamina, her red Sandslash, and Bacent released Gavian, who had apparently evolved into a Houndoom since Saylee and Key had seen him last. The flame on Caelin's tail lit up the room a little, enough for them to make out that it was a bog-standard storage room, with packing crates strewn about and a few racks of ugly grey uniforms.

"Alright, let's have a look," Ledah said, trying the door. "Huh, it's not locked…" She peered out into the corridor and immediately shut the door again. "Shit, one of them's coming down the hall!"

"C'mon, Key," Saylee hissed, pressing her back to the wall next to the door and releasing Belle. Key imitated her with Basma. "The rest of you, be distracting, okay?"

"We're good at that," Quillamina promised.

The door creaked open a moment later and a green-haired Galactic grunt rushed in with a large cloth bundle in his arms. He immediately spun and hissed, "Wait! Do not be startled!" as Saylee and Key stepped forwards with Belle and Basma set to stun.

"Why the hell not?" Saylee asked, pausing only because the voice did seem vaguely familiar.

The grunt pulled off a fake nose and some face putty. He was sweating so badly that they were starting to peel anyway. "It is I, Agent Looker!" he whispered urgently. "As an agent of Interpol, I am also master of disguise! But now I must be hurrying!"

"Why?" Bacent asked (Ledah had stepped back nervously at the mention of Interpol). Looker pulled aside the sheet he was holding to reveal the ghostly pale face of Di. The ranger was pressing her hat to her neck to stem the flow of blood that was covering her hand.

"Di!" Key gasped.

"Ssh-ssh!" Looker hissed, looking around frantically. He was nearly as pale as Di, though apparently uninjured, and was shaking a little as he clutched the dying ranger. "She is caught and taken to Jupiter, who order Skuntank to be slashing her throat and ordering her to be taken to the ini—inci—" He frowned, huffing in frustration, then sighed and rolled his eyes. " _Burnmachine_. I am thinking that this is what happen to other missing rangers and many more besides, yes? But she is still alive, I see, so instead of attacking Jupiter I am volunteer to take her so can be taking her to hospital instead of burnmachine." He pulled off the green wig and pressed it into Saylee's hands. "I must be going, hurry-hurry, but return I will to arrest Jupiter! Be wery vary, all!" He ran and climbed up the boxes with astonishing speed, peering out of the window. "Ah, my accomplice is here! Good-good! Please take her!" He passed Di through to somebody standing outside and then climbed through himself.

"They're not just stealing Pokémon, they're _murdering_ people?" Bacent muttered, ashen-faced. "How fucked-up is _that_?"

"Pretty fucked up," Gavian agreed.

"So Interpol's unlikely to give a shit about me being here?" Ledah said hopefully.

"I am thinking, _mon chevalier,_ that this is not a scenario wherein a fair and noble match is a wise decision," Belle said to Saylee.

Saylee clenched her fist around Looker's green wig and felt something _crackle_ inside. She shook it out to find a folded-up piece of paper inside. "New Galactic member orientation map…" she read aloud, opening it. "Thank you, Agent Looker!"

"It says that the security room's down the hall," Key said, reading the map aloud. "Just across the hall from the storage room for stolen Pokémon."

"Jupiter's office is top floor," Saylee said, handing the map to Ledah. "Okay, tell you what. This time, we'll be the distraction."

"I like this plan better already," Ledah commented.

"We'll go upstairs and kick all of the ass," Saylee continued. "In our experience, the foot soldiers aren't particularly strong. But we need to keep an eye out for Mars, Pluto and—Looker mentioned another one, didn't he?"

"Jupiter," Key recalled. "If Mars and Pluto are anything to go by, they'll probably look different from the regular grunts. Probably not a bowlcut."

"And much stronger Pokémon, so if we run into one of them, we go at them together and with everything we've got," Saylee insisted, before turning back to Ledah and Bacent. "While we do that, you'd be doing us a solid if you went into that security room and messed shit up. Turned off alarms, unlocked doors, freed Pokémon, stuff like that."

"We can do that, can't we, Circles?" Bacent said, releasing his Porygon-2. "We'll give you a call if we see anything you should know about through the security cameras, okay?"

"Cool," Saylee said, peeping into the hall. "Right, two guards at the foot of the stairs…"

"Two too many," Caelin said, hopping onto Sally's back. "Allow us to fix that."

"You guys gonna be okay, attacking the whole building?" Gavian asked, watching the pair go charging down the hall, spewing fire and lightning.

"This isn't my first rodeo," Saylee said, running after her Pokémon as the guards released a pair of Zubat. "Sally! Leo! You've got this, right?"

{}

{}

 _Remember, remember the fifth of November… THAT WAS WHEN YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SET OFF YOUR FIREWORKS, YOU NUMPTIES. STOP IT._ I NEED TO SLEEP.

 _How's everybody's NaNoWriMo going? I'm behind on my words Q_Q I'm working on a fantasy novel loosely based on_ After Armageddon, _featuring Charles as a soldier with a flaming sword, Pedro as an androgynous archer, Miranda as a powerful water spirit called a kelpie, Alan as a mage, etc. The biggest plot twist for me was realizing how much longer I could keep some characters alive :P The whole thing started as a joke with a friend about how if EL James could sell her terrible Twilight fanfic as "romance", I could sell my alright Pokémon fic as fantasy… challenge accepted. (Please check out my writing blog on .com. Plug end.)_

 _Last but certainly not least, since I probably won't have time to say anything during the week… I hope you're all having a very peaceful Remembrance Sunday. I hope you and any friends or relatives who have served or are serving are safe, and continue to be safe. I hope that anybody who lost a serving friend or relative has fond memories of them to look back on today. I hope everybody supports the brave men and women who have promised to lay down their lives in defence of others, and all they ask in exchange is that we not put them in harm's way unless strictly necessary… in certain wars in recent years, I feel that we've failed them very badly on that front. We owe them our apologies as much as our gratitude, as we do all the innocent civilians who die in wars that they did not choose to be a part of._

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Sheri. Species: Silcoon. Nature: Hardy. Ability: Shed Skin. Acquired: Route 205_

 _Name: Melina. Species: Meditite. Nature: Brave. Ability: Pure Power. Acquired: Route 211_

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Buddy. Species: Bidoof. Nature: Adamant. Ability: Unaware. Acquired: Route 205_

 _Name: Medley. Species: Meditite. Nature: Bold. Ability: Pure Power. Acquired: Route 211_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Kel the Kricketune, Zoe the Zubat, Patricia the Psyduck, Belle the Budew_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Stan the Staravia, Leo the Luxio, Basma the Budew, Philon the Psyduck, Zoran the Zubat_


	12. Chapter 11

_Saylee—Pokémon: 11 Deaths: 3_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 0_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 4_ _th_ _, 8:08 pm}_

 _{Galactic Building, Eterna City}_

"Dammit!" the Galactic woman yelled, staggering back from her fallen Stunky. "When I get promoted, I'll demand better stolen Pokémon!"

"Here is a suggestion to sleep on, _salope_ ," Belle said, hitting the human full in the face with Sleep Powder. "Try training them."

The Galactic building was mayhem of a kind that was worryingly familiar to Saylee. They had passed the stage of all-out melee, where the quantity encircled the quality and got knocked down in droves. All of the doors were mysteriously unlocked, so Bacent and Ledah had probably made their way into the computer system, allowing Saylee, Key and their Pokémon to access the entire building. They had now split up more; Key and some of both her and Saylee's Pokémon had gone upstairs, while Saylee and Belle climbed over unconscious Galactic grunts and knocked out anyone who was still awake.

"Is that everyone on this floor?" Saylee asked, looking around.

"I think so," Leo said, sniffing around and then heading for the staircase upwards. They could hear Kel playing her battle music; the Kricketune had come out of her own volition during a particularly sticky moment with a Kadabra, against which her Fury Cutter proved astonishingly powerful. Her battle music somehow hurt the ears of enemy Galactic grunts and their Pokémon without doing any damage to Saylee, Key, or theirs.

"Let us go assist upstairs, then," Caelin said, riding up the stairs on Sally's back. Saylee followed them, and was halfway up the stairs when Kel's battle music stopped abruptly and was replaced by the sound of Key screaming.

"Key!" Saylee yelled, running up the stairs. For a moment, in the top room, she could see nothing at all; it was mostly dark, black walls lit only by tiny lights studded around the room in the shapes of constellations. As Saylee ran forwards, she felt an unpleasant, sticky slickness under her feet at the same moment that she registered the smell of blood.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she saw Key kneeling behind some kind of computer terminal near the stairs, clutching an unmoving Zoran, while Philon tried to usher a badly bleeding Patricia to her feet. A huge, sneering Skuntank was just ripping Kel in half as Saylee tried to reach for the Kricketune's pokéball.

"How dare you!" Caelin screeched. Sally charged towards the Skuntank, firing sparks at it. The huge purple-and-white Pokémon barely seemed to notice the electricity, instead only turning to snarl at the Luxio.

A woman was standing behind the Skuntank, wearing a variation on the Galactic uniform, a skintight black-and-white number with the left leg bare. She was smiling unpleasantly with lips painted the same purple as her weirdly double-bunned hair. The purple struck a chord in Saylee's memory, a blurred photo made of smudges of grey and green _and purple—_

"Night Slash," she ordered. The Skuntank's claws glowed black as it charged Sally and Caelin.

"Look out, Sally!" Leo called, diving protectively towards his friend. The Night Slash ripped open his side and slashed past Sally's head, causing them both to collapse into a pool of blood. Caelin leapt over them, screaming in wordless fury, Mach Punching the Skuntank over and over until it coughed blood. "Jupi… ter…!" it coughed, reaching for its trainer, who reached for a pokéball.

Saylee ran past them, charging towards the purple-haired woman. "You!" she yelled, hitting the taller woman with a hard mix of shoulder-shove and headbutt that forced the Galactic member into the wall and made her drop her pokéball. "Is that Night Slash how you killed the rangers and Dr Hawkshaw at the Ruins of Alph?"

"Alph? Oh… that little place in Johto?" the woman sneered, expertly deflecting Saylee's punch and throwing her. Saylee rolled head over heels and tried to jump back to her feet, but the woman slammed her foot into Saylee's ribs and stamped twice more for good measure as Saylee screamed in pain. "She was just in the way. As are you!"

Saylee managed to catch Jupiter's next kick, twisting her opponent's leg aside and throwing her off-balance long enough to kick Jupiter hard in the side of her other knee. It was definitely satisfying to feel Jupiter's knee give. The woman screamed angrily and hopped backwards, clutching her knee. She grabbed the wall, and then grinned horribly as a panel in it slid aside.

"Stop!" Saylee coughed, hauling herself to her feet and stumbling towards Jupiter. Jupiter hit a couple of buttons in the wall and leapt out of a door that slid aside. Saylee staggered towards it and saw Jupiter clinging to the ankles of a Golbat that was flying away. Jupiter caught Saylee's eye and blew her a kiss.

Suddenly, there was a feeling of intense pressure and Saylee seemed to teleport. One second, she was leaning out of the hole in the wall; the next, she was floating in the air, ears ringing and head spinning, feeling as if her whole body had just been punched. Without really being aware of it or processing it, she ended up among pine trees, branches tearing and scratching as she tumbled in what felt like every direction. She dazedly tried to grab something, anything, but all she got was sharp pain in her fingers and brief lulls of dizzy dangling before a branch cracked or her hand slipped and she fell again. It took her a while to realize when she landed; her head was spinning so violently that she felt as if she was still falling.

She felt something wriggling in her collar and a slightly crushed-looking Belle popped up in her face. She could see the little Budew's lips moving, but all Saylee heard was a buzzing roar. Then Belle was gone, like a mirage.

"Belle," Saylee wheezed, slowly turning her head. The slightest movement made her so violently dizzy that she had to roll over and vomit onto the grass, so full of pain that she collapsed immediately, unable to feel anything else.

Then there were hands, helping her up, laying her on a stretcher, carrying her away. She turned her head again, this time managing to swallow back the rising bile, and through the blurry fuzz she made out another stretcher bearing a lump under a blanket that was decidedly smaller than a human. Dark blood was soaking through the blanket.

"No…" she croaked.

"It's okay, ma'am," a man said soothingly, injecting something into her arm. "Everything's going to be alright."

{ _Jinua 7_ _th_ _, 1:30 pm_ }

{ _Eterna City}_

They had to be put in wheelchairs, but Saylee and Key insisted. They weren't going to miss the service in the reception room of the Centre.

Three days had passed since the top of the Galactic Eterna building had exploded, sending police and ambulances swarming the building. Bone ash had been dredged up from the bottom of the building's incinerator, enough to be positively identified as human bones. The police had also interrogated the arrested Galactic members and, eventually, received testimony that the twelve missing rangers had indeed been murdered by Jupiter, and that all those who lived and worked in the building had kept quiet out of loyalty to Galactic and fear of the homicidal admin. The board of the Galactic Energy Corporation released a statement insisting that they were shocked and appalled by what Jupiter had done, but that it had been done under her own will, without the knowledge of the Board. With all of the computer records regarding the building sabotaged, their lawyer insisted that there was no way of proving that the rest of the company had had anything to do with Jupiter's murders.

The formal service for the twelve dead rangers had been held the previous day, two days after the explosion. Di had managed to get out of hospital to attend it; she'd stepped in to wave to Saylee and Key on the way, but she'd been like a silent ghost, having lost Pearl (not all of the stolen Pokémon had been recovered; more powerful ones, such as Pearl, had apparently been sent elsewhere) and a chunk of her throat. She was slated for reconstructive surgeries to bring back her ability to speak and breathe without a tube in her throat, but it would be a slow and painful process.

Saylee and Key were attending the afternoon service for their six Pokémon that had died in the explosion. Bacent and Ledah were pushing their wheelchairs; Galactic Corp had briefly tried to blame the explosion on Ledah, citing her "criminal background", but the Eterna police had quietly, rebelliously failed to notice her walking around in broad daylight until Saylee had woken up and given her testimony that Ledah and Bacent had been assisting her infiltration (leaving out the part where they had, indeed, been there to steal stuff). The pair had been unharmed by the explosion, although Circles, Bacent's Porygon-2, had contracted some kind of virus from the Galactic computer system.

"I don't really need the wheelchair," Saylee insisted. "I can walk, it's just my fingers that are busted." She held up her hands, displaying three broken fingers splinted together on her left hand and two on her right.

"And your ribs," Ledah added. "And you've got a dozen fractures from getting thrown around like a rag doll when the top floor of the building blew up, because apparently Galactic are actual supervillains. And internal stitching to make up for the damage done by the repeated application of a high-heeled boot to your guts. Suck it up. At least you're alive. It could be worse."

"Could be better, too," Bacent grumbled, pushing Key along. She had, in a commendable display of foresight, begun dragging injured Pokémon down the stairs as soon as Saylee and Jupiter had entered into fisticuffs, and as such had been knocked down the stairs rather than caught in the actual explosion; she'd mostly managed to roll to protect herself on the way down, but she'd badly sprained her right ankle and wrist, the latter of which was in a sling, and she had second-degree burns on her left cheek and arm. "Jupiter got away, and Galactic Corp don't seem to be getting the blame for _anything_."

"I swear, this country has gotten corrupt as hell, and that's coming from _me_ ," Ledah agreed.

Belle and Basma were waiting outside of the community centre for them. "Everyone else went into the service already," Basma explained.

" _Ma belle princesse,_ Terra, Sally and Zoe are all bandaged up, but they'll be alright," Belle added. "That _connasse_ Skuntank is going to live, as well, but she's well locked up, at least…" She hopped up onto Saylee's lap, and Basma into Key's, and Ledah and Bacent wheeled them inside. The pleasant scent from the Budews' buds was soothing, though there was also a slight tinge of sap from the reopened wound around Belle's face and fresh tears around both her and Basma's buds.

The funeral hall had rows of low seats in front of a stage where six caskets of varying size were lined up. The inside of them would superheat to incinerate the contents during the course of the memorial service. A number of Eterna citizens, many of them clutching rescued Pokémon, were in attendance, a sight that simultaneously warmed Saylee's heart and brought tears to her eyes. Once they started, they didn't stop, and she didn't try to stop them. This was what the service was for, after all.

Black drapes hung on the walls, with six banners bearing the names of the six dead Pokémon hanging over the caskets onstage. A police officer was waiting patiently behind a pulpit on the stage, in front of pictures taken from Saylee's pokégear; Stan, Leo, Philon, Patricia, Kel and Zoran.

Key and Saylee were wheeled into gaps in the front row that had been left for them, next to the chairs where Caelin, Terra, Sally and Zoe were. Sally was curled up on her chair with her head on her paws, staring morosely at Leo's picture with her remaining right eye. Bandages were wrapped over where the left had been; thanks to Luxio's extensive night-vision and infrared sight, Luxio eyes were too complex to be reconstructed. Next to her, Caelin was sitting with her arm around Terra, glaring furiously at her knees. The Princess had been close to the centre of the explosion, but had been shielded from the worst of it by the bulk of the Skuntank that she had been pummelling. Her stone circlet, however, had been shattered, and some shards of it had been driven into or slashed past her head. Dots of blood marked the wounds under the bandages wrapped around her head. She hadn't drawn her blood oaths; Saylee was grateful for that, since it looked like the Monferno was bleeding enough.

Terra had withdrawn into her shell to protect herself from the explosion, and as such was mostly unharmed, save for her shell being badly scorched and somewhat dented for being sent flying out of a broken wall. No effort had been made to clean or repair the black marks scoring her shell; she'd refused on the basis that they weren't actually doing any damage.

Zoe was lying on a chair next to Terra, clearly in bad shape. Her wings were visibly stitched to repair rips and tears, with a good half of her left wing missing, her ears were ragged and one of her long, thin legs had been burned or torn off entirely. She either wasn't strong enough yet to prop herself up on her damaged wings, or just didn't want to get up.

A police officer gave a speech thanking the fallen Pokémon for their assistance in revealing the fate of the missing rangers and retrieving missing Pokémon. Then several people who had been reunited with their Pokémon stepped up to personally thank them. The police officer returned to ask Saylee and Key to say something about their Pokémon.

"There's… nothing I can say about them that those who love them don't already know," Key said awkwardly. "Stan was so brave. Leo was always so bright and happy. Philon was so kind. Zoran was so clever. None of them deserved to die like that. None of them."

"Neither Kel nor Patricia were fighters," Saylee added. "But they insisted on joining the fray for the sake of their friends. They shouldn't have had to do that, or to die for it…" She sniffed, too choked up to continue. To her surprise, Caelin stepped up on stage.

"It grieves us more than we can say that your lives were lost so horribly," the Princess said to the caskets, "and that your murderer runs free. But we… _I_ swear, on my life and my crown, that you will not be forgotten, and will not go unavenged."

"Indeed," Belle agreed, scurrying up onstage. "Now, as we have lost dear Kel, I shall sing on her behalf." Caelin picked the little Budew up and put her on the pulpit, near the microphone.

Belle started humming softly, growing steadily louder and louder until it became full-voiced singing. The requiem that Kel had written filled the room, wringing tears from everyone present. Saylee's tears turned to full-on sobbing. She couldn't stop, bent over her burning ribs, crying so hard that she couldn't even make a sound, only gasp for air. She felt Key take her hand, trying to be careful to spare Saylee's broken fingers, but her grip was shaking badly and Saylee could hear her friend's loud sobbing. It only fuelled her own. _Why can't I protect_ anyone? _Why can't I do anything without losing anyone?_

They sat and cried long after Belle finished singing. Some of the other mourners in attendance clapped. When Saylee's eyes cleared just enough to look around their surviving Pokémon, her gaze ended up resting on Caelin, the only one of her Pokémon without tears running down her cheeks.

Like many fire-type Pokémon, Monferno couldn't cry; their internal body temperatures tended to be above the boiling point of water. All the rest of their body fluids ran hot, especially their blood. Caelin was staring at the caskets with a fire in her eyes burning hotter than her tail.

 _She's going to murder Jupiter if we see her again. I know I should stop her, but I don't know if I'll be able to, or how much I want to…_

{ _Jinua 7_ _th_ _, 4:15 pm_ }

{ _Eterna Hospital, Eterna City}_

"We will not allow you to keep us from killing this foul woman, and her Skuntank," Caelin snarled. She was sitting on the end of Saylee's hospital bed. Key and Saylee had been returned to their room after the funeral, and their Pokémon, Bacent and Ledah had joined them.

"Caelin, she needs to go to jail so she can pay for her crimes," Saylee insisted tiredly, as much to herself as the infuriated Monferno.

"Oh, we assure you, she will _pay_ ," Caelin snapped, rolling a ball of fire in her fingers. Belle edged away from the princess nervously.

"I know you want to kill her," Saylee croaked. Her throat was dry and hoarse from all of the crying. "I know you want revenge. Believe me, so do I. But we can't allow ourselves to sink to that."

"Hey, between you, you've lost six Pokémon to this bitch,," Ledah pointed out. "If you wanted to kill her, that'd be legit."

"Oh, it's not that I don't _want_ to kill her," Saylee said quietly. "I really, really do. But I'm not going to. I don't… I just don't want to let myself be that person. I'm the Head Ranger of Kanto. I'm in charge of law enforcement, and trying to make Kanto a safe place to live, so I have a _responsibility_ not to be that person, you know? I have a responsibility to be better than that. I have to not do things like kill people because they piss me off, because that's how people like Jupiter operate. Besides," she added lightly, "when I was growing up, they used to say that you shouldn't kill what you're not going to eat."

"You say that so casually," Bacent choked. "You mean you've eaten _real_ meat? Not synth, but actual, dead…?"

"Don't judge until _you_ haven't eaten for a week," Saylee muttered. "People and Pokémon both kinda made an exception there because everyone could understand it. You have no idea how all-consuming that kind of hunger is, the shit people will eat just to stop being _so hungry_. Everyone was kinda sympathetic to that, wherever in Kanto you were. Even if you didn't _like_ that your friend or relative had been killed and eaten by wild Pokémon, you could understand it… emphasis on not liking it, of course. It was pretty common for dead bodies to be traded to Pokémon for their dead, though. Then both parties got meat without having to go out of their way to kill each other."

"That… makes sense, in a really horrible way," Ledah said, making a face. "Hey, have you ever gotten so hungry you ate _human_?"

"I don't think so," Saylee said, almost wanting to laugh on the expression on their faces. "I mean, we traded bodies instead of just eating our own because it was generally held that you'd go blind or something if you ate your own species. Pretty sure I read somewhere recently that it really does mess your brain up. But I don't really know most of what I ate as a kid, I just devoured whatever Mum handed me. She's implied that she's had to do some fairly awful stuff to feed Red and I when we were kids, but I always kind of assumed that that meant stealing from people just as hungry as us or selling to a really awful customer. I don't know, I've never asked…"

"Okay, you can stop, I'm feeling abruptly grateful for my single-room flat and three-shitty-meals-a-day upbringing," Ledah said, holding up her hands. "Shit, and I thought having to shoplift to own many toys at all made _me_ hard-up."

"No sympathy here, I don't even have a concept of a shitty meal," Saylee said, "except maybe ground glass or actual shit."

"We are sorry for the poverty of your upbringing, Sar," Caelin said sternly, "but it is not for you to decide what is our right. We are not like you. We are royal blood, and have been raised to do battle in defence of our homeland and our people. Our ways are not your ways. Our _responsibility_ is to defend our people at any cost, even if the sacrifice be our own souls. Do not speak to us as if we know not what we say when we swear that we shall _tear them to bloody pieces_."

"As your _advisor_ ," Saylee said pointedly, "I advise strongly _against_ that. There's more to protecting people than killing for them. That's not how you make people feel _safe_."

"Your advice is noted, Sar," Caelin said, looking away with a scowl that suggested that noted advice did not mean heeded advice.

"She's just part of something larger, anyway," Saylee continued. "Galactic Energy's been playing innocent with all that 'shocked at the use to which Ms Ceres has been putting our facilities, blah blah blah' but they pulled the same shit about Marcus Denzi and there's no way that _two_ senior members of the company have been pulling repeated well-funded acts of theft and murder without anybody else in the company knowing. It's a cover-up."

"Circles got some kinda virus from their computers, and I need to figure out what the hell it did to him before I can go through the files he stole," Bacent said, scratching his head with a sigh, "but I can tell you Ms Ceres wasn't just claiming expenses, she was drawing directly—well, through like ten shell accounts, but y'know—directly from the main accounts under Cyrus Akagi—"

"Cyrus?" Key interrupted. "Isn't that what that blonde lady said that guy's name was?" she asked Saylee. "I mean, the description she gave matched—blue hair, grey coat, square face…"

"Sounds like Cyrus Akagi," Bacent confirmed. "The guy's the infamously reclusive CEO of GEC. Didn't know _anybody_ knew that guy. He never does press junkets or anything, he's just listed in their files as their CEO."

"That man is affiliated with Galactic?" Terra gasped.

"Excellent," Caelin declared. "This shall make it easier to destroy them _all_ in one fell swoop."

Saylee and Key exchanged worried looks. _Great. They're all one great big bundle of_ dangerous _. I think I'd rather fight Groudon and Kyogre again…_

{}

{}

 _FUCK. THAT. SKUNTANK._

 _It's kind of a running joke that nuzlocke writers/artists enjoy their readers' pain and sustain ourselves on fan tears. Normally this would be the perfect chapter to joke about that, but I'm not really up to joking about the impact of carnage and murder this week. I'm heartsick with sorrow for the people of Paris, all those who've been hurt or killed, and all those who've lost a loved one. I'm heartsick with fear for the Muslims and Syrian refugees who are now at risk of violence from people misaiming their fear and pain at targets that these terrorists claim to stand for. But there is no better way to harm your position than to defend it with poor arguments, and no worse argument than killing innocent people._

 _The terrorists do not represent who they claim to. They protect and aid nobody. They are afraid and angry and hateful, and they want to inspire others to feel the same._ But we don't need to be afraid. _Not looking at the people of Paris. The people who opened their doors and windows to strangers even as explosions and gunfire were still sounding outside. The taxis and buses that took people home for free. How so many people rushed to donate blood to the hurt and dying that blood centers started having to turn them away. Think of how there were hundreds of thousands,_ millions _of those people , and only eight terrorists._

 _Please, if nothing else, please bear this in mind:_ **Terrorism has no religion. Terrorism has no ethnicity.** Terrorism is a cruelty that people choose when they are angry and afraid and in hate. And there is nothing more powerful we can do to combat it than not to do the same. Don't hate innocent people for this. Do not be angry. Do not be afraid. **Open your doors and be other than what the terrorists tell themselves we are.**

 _ **Saylee**_

 _RIP Patricia the Psyduck, level 5-20_

 _RIP Kel the Kricketune, level 5-19_

 _ **Key**_

 _RIP Stan the Staravia, level 2-24_

 _RIP Leo the Luxio, level 4-17_

 _RIP Philon the Psyduck, level 6-19_

 _RIP Zoran the Zubat, level 7-17_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Zubat, Belle the Budew_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Basma the Budew_


	13. Chapter 12

_Saylee—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 5_

 _Key—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 4_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 12_ _th_ _, 11:30 am}_

 _{Eterna City}_

"How are you all feeling?" Saylee asked as she and Key met their Pokémon in the park behind the clinic. A week after the explosion Saylee was walking, albeit slowly, tentatively and powered by a crutch sheer stubbornness, while Key had insisted on also swinging around on crutches rather than being in a wheelchair. Both of them were still heavily wrapped in bandages to cover their slow human healing factors, but their Pokémon had had their final bandages removed. The new sprout on Terra's head was beginning to bud, Sally had a respectably intimidating-looking scar over her eye, and Zoe was flying again with a prosthetic peg replacing her lost leg and some prosthetic work to repair the damage to one of her wings. The prosthetics were coloured blue to match her body, but were only temporary pieces—the nurse had cautioned that Zoe'd need new ones as soon as she evolved into Golbat, and would only receive full permanent ones if she either gave up training or evolved into a Crobat.

"Well and ready to return to training," Caelin declared. She now had eight blood marks, four on each of the blue ridges over her eyes. "Sar, we will be requiring the means to contact your esteemed mother and select members of our royal army to replace those who are fallen. We must recoup and train!"

"Oh, my. You're very brave, aren't you?"

A sudden gentle warmth washed over Saylee. She looked around frantically to see who had spoken—the voice seemed _familiar_ …

"Up there!" Zoe called, flying awkwardly up to the roof where three pale faces were peering down at them.

"Who and what are you?" Key said, bewildered, shielding her eyes against the sun as she peered up at the three white Pokémon.

"A Togepi, Togetic and Togekiss?" Saylee gasped, recognizing the red-and-blue patterns.

The Togepi hopped onto the Togekiss' back and it flew down to land in front of them, followed by the fluttering Togetic.

"You recognize me? That is rare indeed," the Togekiss mused, peering at Saylee. "But then again, we are not exactly common!"

"An angel!" Terra gasped. "Sar, you have seen an angel before?"

"Seen?" Saylee said with a faint smile. "I helped raise one from a Togepi…"

"Then you are a good heart indeed, and ought to have a brighter smile," the Togetic insisted. "But then, that's why we're here. We heard all of your hearts sobbing in grief…"

"It might take more than your powers to bring us joy again," Sally said morosely, "unless you can raise the dead."

The little Togepi hopped down and hugged her. "How about hugs?" he asked. "Mama hugs me when I'm sad, and it makes me happy. It works for Sissy too."

"You're very sweet," Saylee said with a smile, kneeling gingerly next to Sally and the Togepi, trying not to pull on her stitches. "What's your name?"

"Puck!" the little Togepi said brightly, running over to hug her too. "And this is my Mama, and Tashigi the Togetic!"

"Don't fear or hate, dear," Tashigi said, fluttering over to Caelin. The Togetic had a clear pendant full of blue liquid hanging around her neck. "You haven't lost everything. Those Pokémon who remain still need you."

"…we are aware of that," Caelin said, accepting Tashigi's hug. "That _does_ feel somewhat… heartening…"

"Tashigi," the Togekiss said, "I have a feeling that you will find what you seek if you remain with these women. Perhaps you ought to travel with them."

"A _f_ é _e,_ travel with us?" Belle said excitedly. "What a blessing!"

"We would not be averse to your joining us if you wish," Caelin said, bowing her head to Tashigi. "We could no doubt benefit from some divine assistance to our luck."

"Yeah," Saylee said, looking up at the Togetic, "but we've gotten mixed up in some dangerous stuff. You'll be in danger if you come with us. It might be a bad idea."

"I'm not afraid," Tashigi assured her. "I have seen the news. I know what you are facing, perhaps better than you do, because Titania's trainer has been dealing with them for far longer." She gestured to the serene Togekiss. "I only wish to uplift and strengthen kind hearts. They are sorely needed in this world. If I can at least keep your spirits up, I will be content."

"And if you can grow strong enough to extinguish the black flame of vengeance burning in the heart of the Princess, this country will be blessed with a great Fire Lord," Titania predicted, looking to Caelin, who looked away. Puck ran up and hugged the princess, which made her soften somewhat. Titania watched her son thoughtfully as he ran around, hugging the other Pokémon. "Sar. You say that you have raised and cared for a Togepi before…?"

"Yes?" Saylee said warily, looking at Puck. "Wait. No. No! This is way too dangerous to—"

"Not as dangerous as the matters that I am already involved in," Titania insisted, her smooth voice shaking somewhat. "My son has come close to being taken from me twice already. Cynthia and I have been friends since I was an egg and she a little girl, so I will not flee from her side while she seeks to defeat those who threaten our reality itself, and yet…"

"Mama, I'm fine, _really_ ," Puck insisted. "I didn't get hurt _bad_ in that landslide!"

"You got hurt, and that is enough," Titania insisted. "But there is previously none whom I would trust with you but Cynthia, except… others who are already in danger, or… it may not be for long, Sar, and after all, I understand you will be in Eterna for a while? You _recognized_ me. I can sense the truth and love in your words when you say that you say that you have cared for a Togepi before. Therefore, if you would swear to protect and care for him, I would entrust Puck to you."

"You would?" Saylee said in surprise, picking up the little Togepi. He smiled brightly at her in a way that vividly reminded her of Tobias. "Of course I'd protect him with my life, but… Puck, are you okay with this?"

"Sure!" Puck said happily, hugging her. "I'll miss Mama, but once her an' Sissy beat the bad guys I can go home! Anyway, if Mama says it'll be okay, it'll be okay! Hey, maybe I can evolve into a Togetic an' then I can fly off and see Mama whenever I want, huh?"

"I can't wait," Titania said, leaning towards them. Saylee held up Puck and Titania gave him a kiss on the top of his head. "I must hurry back to Cynthia. No telling what trouble she'll get into without me. I hope for safety and happiness for you all."

"Bye, Mama!" Puck called, waving his little arms as she elegantly spread her wings.

"Thank you for your help, Titania!" Tashigi called after the Togekiss as she flew away. "I swear I'll help protect him!"

"Did an angel just fly down here, hand you her baby and fly off?" Sally wanted to know. "Is that a thing that just happened?"

"And it's by far not even the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me," Saylee said, hugging Puck. "Looks like we only need four replacements from the royal army now, Caelin." She pulled out her pokégear and Pokédex. "Let's pick four and I'll call Mum so we can get them."

{ _JInua 13_ _th_ _, 11:45 am}_

 _{Eterna City}_

"Good morning, Lady Key!" Terra said brightly as the blonde released her and Saylee's twelve Pokémon on the cold grass outside of the Pokémon Centre, now including Seine the Shellos, Connery the Combee, Buddy the Bidoof and Medley the Meditite. All twelve of them gasped sharply.

"Did you get hurt again?!" Basma squeaked. "You didn't have those bandages before!"

"Lady Key, what _happened_?" Connery asked, all three of his faces frowning sadly as he buzzed up to her face, peering at the bandages wrapped around one side. "What happened?—Were you injured?—Who did this?"

"One question at a time, _please_ ," Key said, petting the nervous little bug-type. "I'm fine. I just got some skin surgery this morning. Just to get rid of some scarring. I'll look absolutely fine in no time."

"Good to know," Medley sighed. "Is that where Sar Kanto is now? I imagine she'd take rather a bit more work—"

"No, she decided not to," Key said, shaking her head. "She's actually at the police sta—oh. She's here now. That was quick," she said as Saylee limped up to the group, scowling.

"Sar, whatever is the matter?" Caelin asked. "Has Galactic perpetrated some new foul deed?"

"No—well, maybe," Saylee said, pulling a piece of card out of her pocket and flipping it over to read it. "Can't get a damn thing out of any of the captured Galactics. But that lawyer was there again. He gave me his card." She handed the card over to Key.

"Weird," Key said, staring at the back of the card. "Has he scribbled out his contact details? Why'd he give you his card, anyway? It's not like _you're_ being charged with anything… If he just gives out his card, wouldn't he have done it in Floaroma or something? And seriously, why'd he scribble out the contact details?"

"He gave me his card but no contact details…" Saylee said, reading the front again. _Godin Court, Attorney at Law._ "The only new information I'm getting from this is his full name," she mused.

"Well… maybe he wants you to look him up?" Key suggested. "Can't hurt to google him…"

"Yeah… okay, first up, training," Saylee said, turning to the Pokémon. "Zoe's nearly a Golbat, so I'd like to focus on her today…" After laying out a sparring plan, she sat down on a bench with her pokégear and, one eye on her Pokémon, googled "Godin Court" while Key did the same on her pokénav.

"Well, the guy's had a long and illustrious career," Saylee said after a while of scrolling through news articles. "Mainly murders, sizable number of _pro bono_ cases… huh. And quite a rap sheet for _proving_ murderers guilty… I thought that was a prosecutor's job?"

"Says on his Wikipedia page that he's famous for not just getting his clients off, but finding the real perpetrator," Key read. "He's got pretty strong feelings about justice that he likes to express very publicly. It's not like he's won every case he's ever taken, but his stated goal is to defend the innocent, not just protect anyone who can pay him too. Like you said, a lot of _pro bono_ , a few charges himself of B&E or petty theft while doing his own investigations… the guy's got his own pretty prestigious law firm, he's not corporate. So what's he doing _defending_ Galactic?"

"Has he got any family?" Saylee asked quietly.

"Uh… says he's got a Kirlia, Loudred and Linoone," Key read, "and he's got kids, adopted, twins, but there's no more information about them so I guess they're still minors. Having a Kirlia around probably goes a long way towards getting honest clients… oh, says her name's Athena and she's licensed to work in court too. Helps with cross-examinations. Other than that… never married, no publicly known relationships, no siblings, no living parents…"

 _Kids, huh…?_ Saylee thought, turning the card over in her hands and then looking back up at the news articles on the screen. In most of the photos and videos, Court stood tall with a proud smile on his face, more than once warmly accepting a hug from a happily sobbing client. It contrasted sharply with the pale, blank-faced attorney who'd been sitting in at every attempted interrogation, sitting stiffly and speaking sharply over his clients. _An attorney who's behaving oddly and taking on a case that's unusual for him, and doesn't seem happy about being there… and he's certainly travelling a lot for a guy who's got underage kids to look after… I don't like the shape of this._

"Without knowing anything about the kids, we can't check up on their wellbeing ourselves," Saylee sighed, "and I'm hesitant to contact the police about it… we don't know how many of them could be reporting to Galactic, and if those bastards _do_ have the kids and we give them any reason to think he's been communicating with us outside of the interrogation room…"

"What, so now we know his kids are probably kidnapped and we can't do anything about it?" Key said with a scowl. "That's what we get out of this?"

"Well, we know to look out for them if we ever find any Galactic hostages," Saylee said, spinning the card in her fingers. "Maybe he just wanted us to know he's not the enemy. At least we know that so long as we keep his kids safe, we're not going to have to go through him to lock these bastards up. He mentioned something about the Prosecutor's Office here having troubles, too, so he might've been hinting at something odd going on there too. Di thought somebody high up in the police might be under Galactic's thumb-this could be how."

"I suppose so…" Key said, yelping and dropping her pokégear at a collective shriek from the Pokémon, who were all staring at the sky. "What's going on?"

"Look! Look at Zoe!" Basma cried excitedly, waving her bud.

" _Zoe est trés belle, non?"_ Belle cried as the Golbat swooped down towards them.

"Wow!" Zoe laughed with her suddenly huge mouth, flopping awkwardly down to the ground on wing and leg prostheses that were suddenly too small for her. She was staring around at everybody with a huge grin. "You weren't kidding about _colours_!"

{ _Jinua 18_ _th_ _, 5:55 pm_ }

{ _Eterna City}_

Six days later, Bacent and Ledah had moved on, Saylee and Key's various bandages were starting to come off and the Pokémon were raring to move on.

"You guys have made so much progress!" Key said happily, using Saylee's Pokédex to check Medley's increased levitation height since she'd started training with them. Tashigi was hovering at Key's shoulder; the Togetic had developed a strong affinity for Key, and hadn't strayed from her side since Titania left, though she wouldn't explain why nor what it was she was apparently looking for.

Puck loved getting carried around by Saylee. While Togepi didn't have any direct healing powers, Saylee's fingers and ribs _had_ healed astonishingly well since she'd started carrying the little white Pokémon around.

"We have only utilized the training regimens set down by yourself and Sar Kanto," Caelin said, casually suplexing a small boulder and flipping over to face her trainer again. "A few more days of training and we—"

From inside the clinic came the sudden sound of screaming. It sounded like Cheryl.

"She's escaped! Stop her! NO!"

A moment later, Jupiter's Skuntank came crashing through a window at the back of the clinic, ripping through Connery in mid-air and crushing Basma as it landed on her.

"NO!" Key screamed as her Pokémon collapsed in puddles of blood and sap. Caelin screamed ferally and delivered a vicious Mach Punch to the larger Pokémon. The Skuntank howled in pain, rolling away, then staggered to its feet and fled, slashing Seine in half when she tried to stop it. Sally charged after it, Caelin scooping up Terra and leaping onto the Luxio's back as she ran. Zoe flew after them.

"CAELIN!" Saylee yelled, pulling off her coat and draping it over the broken glass on the bottom of the window frame to allow a panicked Cheryl to climb through safely.

Cheryl scooped up the bleeding Connery gently. "I'll take care of them, go after your friend!" she yelled pointing. Saylee turned to see Key running after their Pokémon, with Medley, Buddy and Tashigi following.

" _Putain de merde_!" Belle spat, hopping onto Saylee's shoulder. She had developed the trick of extending a long, sharp, swordlike thorn from her bud. "Sar, we must pursue. That _salope_ needs cut."

Saylee nodded and ran after Key, shivering in the chill wind as she realized too late that she'd left her coat behind and refused to go back for it. Running made her ribs burn and sent jolts of pain up her legs, and she felt her stitches pulling slightly against the weight of her bag, but she didn't stop. _No… no… NO!_

"They're going into the forest!" Puck cried. Saylee shivered, but ran on, glancing up at the setting sun before the sky was swallowed by the trees. _The forest at night is filled with ghosts…_

"Key?" Saylee yelled, stumbling through the forest. "KEY!" She continually tripped over roots in the ground, unable to see them or anything else in the dark forest. She spotted a flickering light and staggered towards it, hoping it was Caelin and trying not to bash off of too many trees, wrapping around her arms to hold her chest together because breathing _hurt_.

As she grew closer to the light, however, she noticed that the light wasn't at ground level; it was higher up, glowing above her the closer she got. She tripped over something that _clanged_ , rolled to protect Puck and Belle in her arms, and looked up. The light was flickering out of a window of the Old Chateau.

She got to her feet, ready to run again, but two huge white eyes loomed out of the night towards her, and then all she saw was darkness.

{ _JInua 18_ _th_ _, 6:10 pm_ }

{ _Eterna Forest}_

"Where did it go?" Caelin snarled, looking around as much of the forest she could see from the flickering light of her tail and the glow of Sally's eyes. Zoe flew back and forth around them, searching for the fleeing Skuntank.

"My lady, this forest is not safe at night," Terra said nervously. "Especially with that foul murderer loose here somewhere…"

"There is nothing in this forest so dangerous as our rage," Caelin snapped. "In any case, that Skuntank will no longer be a threat after we find and _kill_ it."

"I can't see it anywhere," Zoe reported, flying back close to them. "I'll fly out further to look. We can't let it get away! It killed Zoran!"

"It'll kill you too if you go off on your own," Sally said nervously. "The Princess is the only one who can hurt it. We'll stick together."

"Quite right," Caelin agreed. "Stay near, Zoe. We will avenge Zoran…" she patted Sally's ears, "…and Leo, and all others who have been lost, but not at any price. We will sacrifice no more for our vengeance."

{ _JInua 18_ _th_ _, 6:10 pm_ }

{ _Eterna Forest}_

"Are you sure you felt them coming this way?" Key asked, pushing through the dense bushes. Medley and Tashigi exchanged confused looks.

"…Maybe?" Medley hazarded. "Sorry, I need more training, my senses are… confused…"

"Mine too," Tashigi said with a frown.

"Hey, is somethin' _moving_ in that building?" Buddy asked, pushing through the bushes ahead of them.

"Building…?" Key asked, following. "Oh, no!"

They had wound up in the overgrown gardens of the Old Chateau. Key looked around, peering apprehensively at the darkness, then paused as she thought she saw movement in one of the upper windows.

"Key, I don't think we should go in there…" Tashigi said fretfully.

"But if that Skuntank's in there, we _have_ to get it," Key said, wiping angry tears out of her eyes. _Connery… Basma… Please be okay…!_ "Caelin's Mach Punch really hurt it. Medley, Buddy, you guys know Rock Smash. Be ready, okay?"

They nervously crept through a broken door into the dark, empty house. Key jumped a mile when something _creaked_ above them, but there was no other movement to be seen or heard in the dark, though the imagination populated the shadows with monsters. The building had clearly once been lavishly decorated, with thick, soft carpets under the thick, soft dust and expensive-looking paintings and tapestries rotting on the walls.

"These steps don't look safe…" Medley said nervously, crossing her legs and levitating herself up them. Key climbed up carefully with Tashigi flying protectively at her shoulder.

"I, uh… I really don't like these," Buddy said, staring at the steps but not beginning to climb onto them. Key returned him and began climbing the creaking stairs slowly again, but kept his pokéball gripped tightly in her hand. She crept anxiously along the landing, praying that she wouldn't fall through the floor.

"It was this room, right?" Medley asked, stopping in front of a door halfway down the hall. Key nodded and pushed the creaking door open with the hand gripping Buddy's pokéball.

She immediately winced and slammed her hands over her ears. A huge, old-fashioned LCD TV was sitting in the middle of the room. It was the only thing in the room that didn't look like it had been set on fire at some point. The screen was showing only static and the TV was whining high.

"Key, we need to leave!" Tashigi shouted. Key stepped back, and—

" _NO!"_

Key was enveloped in blinding white, unable to move even as she felt fire dance across her skin. It lasted a moment, then she was dropped on the floor, twitching and gasping for breath. Something black shot past her vision, and she heard Medley scream.

"Me…" she managed to gasp.

" _Are you alright?"_

Then it was light and fire again, and all of Key's muscles locked up, her jaw stuck too tight for her to scream no matter how much she wanted to.

{}

{}

 _YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE WITH PAIN?! AHAHAHAHAAAAAAA NO APPARENTLY NOT. I kinda wanted the Old Chateau stuff to come out around Halloween, it didn't work out._

 _Not pictured in this chapter: lots of boring level grinding for new teammates, random deaths of new teammates, more level grinding and desperate capturing of new teammates._

 _Key evolved Tashigi quickly, and she's needed to be a Togetic for backstory reasons, so she's introduced as one, basically. Also, Puck is the second Pokémon to break my naming rule for literary nerd reasons—I named his mother a while ago, and I just really, really wanted to name him Puck as a result XD_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Puck. Species: Togepi. Nature: Bashful. Ability: Serene Grace. Acquired: Cynthia_

 _RIP Seine the Shellos, level 9-16_

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Tashigi. Species: Togetic. Nature: Quiet. Ability: Hustle. Acquired: Cynthia_

 _RIP Basma the Budew, level 4-20_

 _RIP Connery the Combee, level 7-11_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Golbat, Belle the Budew, Puck the Togepi_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof_


	14. Chapter 13

_Saylee—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 3 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _?}_

 _{?}_

Saylee drifted awake to find herself trapped in a large, heavy chair. She wasn't tied to it; she was paralyzed, unable to move her muscles no matter how hard she tried.

She rolled her eyes, looking around as much of the dark, musty room as she could see. She still had her glasses, but they weren't that much use, considering that there was no light in the room except for a lit candelabra immediately in front of her. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. "Hello?" she called hoarsely.

"Saylee! You're awake!" a little Togepi cried, running along the table towards her. "We're too little to carry you, but now that you're awake, you can get up, right?"

Saylee tried to shake her head, but couldn't. "I can't move, Toby," she said. "Where are we?"

"Some kind of black shadow dragged you into the Old Chateau," a little green Pokémon explained, popping up from behind the Togepi. "Who is Toby?"

"…Belle?" Saylee said. Some of the fuzziness in her head cleared. "Sorry, Puck, I mistook you for someone else. A black shadow, you said?"

"What do you mean, you can't move?" Puck said, tugging on her arm. "C'mon!"

"You must not leave before dinner is served. That would be extremely rude."

An old man walked into view of the candlelight, carrying a silver tray so tarnished that only the barest hint of silver was visible through the black. The man himself was wearing a black suit, but was so pale—his skin and hair so pasty white—that he seemed almost transparent. In fact, Saylee realized with a sick lurch, he _was_ transparent. She could see the candlelight on the wall behind him through his head. He cast no shadow.

"A ghost!" Saylee gasped.

"Let Sar go, _connard_!" Belle demanded, leaping forward and slashing the man with her thorn blade. It passed through him harmlessly.

"The master has not excused you," the old man said, walking around to Saylee and setting the platter down in front of her. He removed the lid to reveal a pile of dark black blukberries.

Saylee felt sick just looking at them. She'd seen a lot of berries like them growing up. Blukberries were normally dark blue, not black, but like almost every berry except for pecha they could grow poisonous when grown with tainted soil or polluted water. Kanto had both in abundance. She'd seen people die from eating berries like the ones in front of her, driven to desperation by starvation.

Saylee was vividly reminded of the story Di had told her, of the master of the house losing his mind and poisoning his family.

"Now then, it is time to eat your supper," the old man said. To Saylee's horror, she felt her hand finally move—towards the platter and out of her control.

{ _Jinua 18_ _th_ _, 6:30 pm_ }

{ _Eterna Forest}_

"HALT! Who goes there?"

Zoe flew down to sit on the ground next to Sally—or flop awkwardly, unable to plant her prosthetic leg firmly on the rough terrain—as the bushes around them moved, and suddenly the four of them surrounded by a ring of Grotle, all watching them suspiciously.

"Friends to the court of Leaf Lord Teria!" Terra said quickly. "I am Terra, and this is my lady Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet."

"We would seek an audience with the Leaf Lord, if she would be so gracious," Caelin added.

"A Princess of Coronet?" one of the Grotle said, plodding up to see them. "You have no crown. No _proper_ crown."

"It was shattered in a recent battle," Caelin said with a scowl. She tapped the ring of flowers that Belle had made for her. "This was made for us by our subjects, and I do not think it is for those of the Leaf Lord's court to judge a crown of flowers."

Another Grotle joined the first one. "Calm down, Greg. She _must_ be the Princess, Terra there was sent to serve her," he said. "Hey, Terra. This is the Princess, yeah? Or are you here to tell your parents you eloped with a Chimchar servant?"

"Ignore Tad, my lady, he thinks he's funny," Terra said with a sigh. "Are we allowed to pass?"

"Forgive us, your highness," Tad said formally to Caelin. "This way."

Tad and several other Grotle led the party through the deepest forest, the densest trees without a path between them, until moonlight suddenly broke over them as they stepped into a clearing.

In the centre of the clearing was a huge, mossy rock, a boulder the size of the Old Chateau. It was big enough for there to be a cave in one side of it, and in this cave rested the vast bulk of Leaf Lord Teria.

Of the three royal races, Torterra were the longest-lived. Caelin knew that Teria had been Leaf Lord since before her grandfather's time. The old Torterra was large enough for a human to build a regular-sized house on. There was a myth in the forest that the entire continent of Sinnoh was on the back of a gigantic old Torterra that had lived ten thousand years and then laid down for a nap, and would one day wake up and move along, taking Sinnoh with it.

"Young Caelin," Teria said slowly after Greg formally introduced them. "Indra's youngest sister, yes? Greetings."

"Thank you for receiving us," Caelin said respectfully, hopping down from Sally's back and going to one knee. Terra bowed her head right to the ground; Sally imitated Caelin's kneeling pose, while Zoe perched nervously on the Luxio's back. "We will waste little of your precious time, your majesty. We seek a villainous, murdering Skuntank who fled into this forest after murdering six of our allies… perhaps as many as nine…"

"My condolences on your loss," Teria said softly. "No such creature has been seen, but if it is, we shall apprehend it."

"Could you not mobilize some of the guard to help us search _now_?" Caelin demanded.

"Watch your tone!" Greg said sharply. "Do not demand of the Leaf Lord!"

"She is still a princess," Teria warned her attendant, "but nevertheless, you forget yourself. You are a youngest sibling, not an heir or a Fire Lord. You do not speak with the authority of your clan."

"She's _going_ to be Fire Lord," Sally insisted loyally.

"Hah!" Teria laughed. "You may be a Monferno, princess, but you are far from your brother Indra's power. I have offered to apprehend this killer on your behalf should they be found in my forest, which is more aid than is due to one of your status. Do not be ungracious."

"Very well. Forgive our impertinence," Caelin said sullenly.

"Such a look," Teria tutted. "You think you are the first young Monferno to come demanding favours on the basis that you will one day rule? Your kind is too hot-blooded. You have too many children who all think they are strong enough to rule, when only one ever is."

"We shall take our leave," Caelin said, visibly clinging onto her fraying temper out of pure contrariness. She picked up Terra and climbed onto Sally's back. "Let us go and continue our search."

Halfway out of the clearing, a voice called to them. "Wait!"

They turned. A pale yellow four-legged Pokémon was running towards them; his paws were green, and so were his ears and tail, which were shaped like leaves.

"My name's Ephraim," he said, bobbing a shallow bob. "I'd like to help you."

"What are you?" Terra asked, staring at him. "And what are you doing at the Leaf Lord's Court? You're not one of us."

"Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot," Ephraim said gloomily. "I _was_ an Eevee. I was drawn here by the smell of the Moss Rock… when I got near it, I evolved." He flicked his long, leaflike tail. "They said it's not the first time this happened, and they let me live near the Rock, but, well… I don't really belong here. I felt bad about you getting turned away like that, so I thought, if I could help… I've got a good nose," he added.

"Then turn that nose to the foulest stench in the forest," Caelin ordered, "and we shall deal with this matter ourselves."

In the distance, sirens sounded. "What's that?" Ephraim asked, startled.

"Sirens," Zoe said, flicking her ears nervously. "I've heard them before, when police or doctors are trying to get somewhere in a hurry…"

"Maybe they found it!" Sally snarled, bounding off in the direction of the sirens.

"I hope nobody's been hurt," Terra said quietly. Caelin nodded grimly.

{ _Jinua 18_ _th_ _, 6:30 pm_ }

{ _Eterna Chateau}_

"Medley!" Tashigi gasped as she felt the Meditite's soul leaving her body, knocked out of her by the ball of shadows that had been flung at her. Tashigi managed to grab it before it was dragged entirely into the shadows, and tucked it into her shell to protect it. In the seconds this took, Key started jerking and thrashing again as the ghost returned to torturing her.

"Key!" Tashigi called, flying towards the girl. Tashigi was flung backwards by an arc of the living lightning that had wrapped itself around Key. The blonde human was jerking and twitching violently as she was electrocuted. _She's going to die at this rate!_

Tashigi desperately felt around, extending all of her senses, trying to feel _help_ —

Then she heard a child crying.

Tashigi was frightened for Key, but she was a Togetic. Children's tears burned her like acid, burned her to the core. She found herself drifting out of the door and towards the sound of crying, her new friend's pain driven out of her mind by the powerful directive to _stop the child crying_.

She found the little girl in a rotted bedroom, hiding behind a collapsed four-poster bed. She was sobbing into her hands.

"Hello?" Tashigi said, floating towards the girl. "It's alright, sweetie, don't cry…"

"B-b-but I'm scared of th-the m-m-m-moooooooooonsteeeeeer!" the little girl sobbed. She was, Tashigi was aggrieved to realize, a ghost, but that didn't make her pain any less distressing.

"The monster in the TV?" Tashigi asked.

"TV?" the child sniffed. "Nuh-uh… that's Raiden! He's not a monster, he just needs hugs!" Crawling on her hands and knees, the little girl reached under the broken bed and pulled out a red toy robot. Its power pack was broken and melted, one arm had come off and it was covered in rust. "But he needs this to get hugs, 'cause he's made of 'leckltrickity!"

"Thank you," Tashigi said, picking up the robot. "Do you want to come with me, sweetie? I promise I'll protect you from monsters."

"Even… Daddy?" the little girl asked hesitantly. "Daddy turned into a monster when Mommy died. He got all angry and shouty and hitty, and then he made me eat really icky food… it made me really really sick…"

"He can't hurt you anymore, sweetie," Tashigi promised, kissing the little girl on the forehead. She felt a tugging sensation as the child vanished, a slight weight on the Togetic's soul in addition to the weight of Medley. It wasn't a huge or heavy weight; the robot in her arms weighed more.

"Key!" she cried, flying back down the corridor. Key was spasming, still wrapped in electricity. Tashigi could see its red core now, and dropped the robot into it.

The lighting vanished. Key collapsed, twitching slightly, as the robot fell onto her stomach. Slowly, jerkily, it sat up, its eyes glowing blue.

"Raiden's sorry, miss…" the robot said, reaching with its remaining arm to Key. Its voice was tinny and staticky, but nevertheless… if not _alive_ , then sentient. "Raiden was lonely, so Rai… miss? Miss?"

Tashigi flew down and felt for Key's heartbeat. "It's not there," she said, panicking. "Key! KEY!"

Key didn't respond.

{ _Jinua 18th, 6.30pm_ }

{ _?}_

The first bite was horribly, awfully bitter, the kind of bitter that made of all of your tastebuds scream "DO NOT EAT THIS OR YOU WILL DIE" at once. But Saylee had no control over her body, and she chewed and swallowed the berries, feeling her stomach burn and heave against them. Her hands reached for more. After the second mouthful, she started to vomit.

"Saylee!" Belle screamed as Saylee flopped over the arm of the chair, absolutely tidal waves of vomit splattering onto the dusty floor.

"Now, now," the ghost chastised her. "Finish your supper." Some force took control of her hands again, and she reached for more.

"No!" Puck yelled, jumping at the ghost. "You go away RIGHT NOW!"

The ghost abruptly vanished, and Puck fell back onto the table. Saylee was abruptly freed and rolled out of the chair, vomiting violently onto the floor.

"Pe… pecha…" she croaked between hurls, patting desperately at her bag. She couldn't stop puking long enough to dig into it. She could tell that she'd already puked up everything in her stomach; bright yellow bile was splashing into the puddle. _It'll be my stomach lining next if I don't_ …

"Here!" Belle cried, wriggling out of Saylee's bag and dropping a pecha berry into Saylee's hand. Saylee shoved it into her mouth and swallowed it whole with a batch of burning vomit.

"More…" she croaked, dry heaving and clutching her stomach, which was _killing_ her. Belle ran in and out of her bag, producing one pecha berry after another. Saylee devoured them, feeling their natural antidote soothe her burning throat and calm her heaving stomach. When she felt up to moving, she went into her bag herself to get out a bottle of medicine and took a couple of mouthfuls. She then pulled out a bottle of water, swilled and spat out a few mouthfuls, and then chugged half the bottle. "Thank you," she gasped, holding out her scarf and using some of the water to wash off the worst of the puke. She rinsed some over her face to clean herself off.

"Will you be okay?" Belle asked with concern.

"I'll get a checkup in Eterna and… ew, definitely some laundry service," Saylee said, standing up and making a face as how damp and squidgy her knees felt. Despite the lit candles, the room was very cold, and she was starting to shiver. "Where's Puck?" she asked, looking around until she spotted him lying on the table. "PUCK!"

Puck had his little hands to his head, and his face was screwed up as if he was having a horrible headache, making him look rather like a little Psyduck.

"He jumped that ghost and it vanished," Belle explained. "What is wrong with him?"

"Ghosts, huh?" Saylee muttered, grabbing her bag. Her hands felt weak and shaky and her chest was burning anew, but she managed to pull out her dreamcatcher. Among the talismans and mementoes hanging from it was a little carved-bone doll that Carrie had given her some time ago. Saylee yanked it off of its string and gave it to Puck.

Puck's shivering slowly subsided as he clutched it, his face smoothing out as he calmed down.

"What is it?" Belle asked in awe, watching the doll begin to shudder and shake instead.

"It's a bone doll from Lavender Town," Saylee said. "They can sort of… suck up ghosts, allow you to transport them to somebody who can exorcise them. Not more than one, and I don't know if it can hold a _human_ soul long, but it'll do for now."

Puck sat up, hugging the doll. "Wha…?" he mumbled, looking around, then smiling brightly when he saw Saylee. "Yay! You're okay! Where'd the ghost go?"

"In here," Saylee said, tapping the doll, then carefully taking it away from him and, against her better judgement but for lack of anywhere better to put it, pocketing it. "C'mon, let's go back to Eterna…" She slung her bag more securely around her shoulders and picked up Puck, clutching him a little tightly to her aching stomach.

"Yes, let's go," Belle agreed fervently, scurrying up onto Saylee's shoulder.

"What about the little girl, though?" Puck asked.

"What little girl?" Saylee asked nervously, looking around.

"The one that's crying upstairs!" Puck insisted, pointing up. "We have to make sure she's okay!"

"I hear nothing," Belle said with a frown.

"Me neither," Saylee said, pushing over a door that had rotted off of its hinges and staggering into the dusty front hall. "I don't know if—"

"KEY!"

"Tashigi?" Saylee called, looking up. "That was Tashigi, wasn't it?"

"Yeah… the little girl isn't crying anymore," Puck added. "But d'you think Key's okay?"

"Gotta go check," Saylee said firmly, grabbing the cold metal stair railing as tightly as she dared and hauling herself up the stairs, following the sound of Tashigi's voice repeatedly screaming her best friend's name.

Her guts were agony and her head was swimming violently by the time she reached the top of the stairs, trying to go quickly while placing her feet carefully on the creaking floor; the house was reminding her uncomfortably of Cinnabar House. She doubled over to cough wetly, expecting to spit out some more puke or bile. Unable to see in the dark, she sniffed her hand before wiping it off on her jeans and was horrified to smell blood.

"Saylee!" Belle said. "What's wrong?"

"I think I tore some stitches somewhere…" Saylee muttered, staggering along the hall. "Key better be able to carry me out of here… KEY!"

"Saylee?" Tashigi cried, flitting out of a doorway. She was, Saylee was terrified to notice, crying. "Hurry… you have to help her…"

"What's wrong?" Saylee croaked, staggering into the room and letting herself fall over so she was leaning on her knees next to Key's still body. The room was lit by the inexplicably bright glow of a little red toy robot. In the glow, Saylee could see that Key wasn't moving, and didn't appear to be breathing. The blonde's arm had come out of her sling. Saylee leaned down next to Key's nose and mouth and couldn't feel any breath.

"What happened?" Saylee asked, setting Puck down and beginning to tip Key's head back. _Shit… I can't give her mouth-to-mouth, I just ate poison and I'm coughing up blood. Puck, Tashigi and Belle are all too small to give a good airflow, I don't think Belle breathes the same way as us anyway, and Medley…_ she looked around and saw the lifeless corpse of Key's Meditite slumped against the wall. _Mother of fuck. I don't have the strength to get a heartbeat going, either, so I guess that leaves…_

"She was shocked," Tashigi said as Saylee started to dig into her bag.

"How long ago did her heart stop beating?" Saylee demanded, pulling out her databag full of medicine. As a rule, she didn't trust databags, but some of the medical supplies she carried were required by law to be kept in a password-locked databag, and it _did_ give her an immense carrying capacity. She typed in the password with shaking fingers, and the bag flipped open, showing an inventory.

"She stopped being electrocuted less than a minute ago…" Tashigi said, glaring reproachfully at the little red robot, which looked down sadly.

Saylee nodded. "Good, that's in the time window," she muttered, pulling out an adrenaline needle and holding it up to the light to check it. "Can you help me get her coat open? This only works if it goes directly into her heart." _And if I hit her heart right,_ she thought nervously. She'd only done this once before, also on an electrocution victim, but he'd been a skinny young man and finding the place to stick the needle in had been easy.

"What is it?" Tashigi asked, pulling Key's coat open. Saylee pulled open her friend's shirt, looking for the right spot. The needle would easily punch through Key's breastbone, but she had to get the location exactly right.

Taking a deep breath, Saylee lined up the needle and pressed the button to send it jabbing into Key's heart.

After a moment, Key gasped and jerked, eyes flashing open, coughing

"Key!" Tashigi cried joyously. "What did you do?"

"Kickstarted her heart," Saylee coughed, sitting back as Key sat up sharply, sending the little robot flying. The blonde clutched her chest and gasped. "How do you feel?"

"I feel like I just ran a marathon!" Key gasped. "Oh, ow, every muscle hurts, ow ow ow…"

"Please lie down and try to rest," Saylee said, before pressing her hand over her mouth as she started to cough again.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Key said frantically. "What the hell happened?"

"I got force-fed poisonous berries and you got electrocuted and were medically dead for nearly two minutes, so call the bloody hospital and tell them that," Saylee said, turning aside and spitting out a glob of blood. "I think I've torn my bloody stitches… owww…."

"Hang on!" Key fretted, pulling out her pokénav. It was smoking slightly. "What the hell?"

"Voltage probably busted it, here," Saylee said, tossing her pokégear at Key. "While we're waiting, will somebody tell me what's up with the little robot?"

"I, uh… dunno," Key said, picking up the pokégear and dialling the emergency number. "Hello? I need a medical rescue from the Old Chateau… _yes,_ in Eterna Forest…"

"Raiden's so sorry!" the little robot said, waving its arm. "Rai just wanted hug… Rai hugs miss Serena a lot, and she never hurt…"

"Miss Serena is already dead," Tashigi told him angrily, "as is our friend Medley, thanks to you!"

"What?" Key said, turning away from the pokégear. The faint buzz of speech came out of it. "Y-yes, thank you… Medley!" she cried, tossing the pokégear back to Saylee and diving over to her fallen Meditite, scooping her up awkwardly with one arm. "Medley!"

"Would the needle thing work on Medley too?" Puck asked timidly.

"How long has she been dead?" Saylee asked Tashigi, curling up on the floor a little in exhaustion. Everything _hurt_ , and covered with blood and puke as she was already she didn't give a damn about the dust and dirt.

"About ten or fifteen minutes…?" Tashigi hazarded.

"Sorry," Saylee said, shaking her head briefly and then stopping as it made the whole room spin. "It's only really effective within about four minutes of death, and anyway, I don't know a bloody thing about a Meditite's cardiovascular system, so I don't know if it would work at all…" She coughed. "It's designed for humans only… I had to do a little more than first aid training to be allowed to carry it…"

"Well, I'm glad you did," Tashigi said softly, hugging Key while she cried over Medley. "You saved Key, at least…"

"Raiden's so, so sorry… she frightened Rai… Rai didn't mean to…" the robot said wretchedly, its voice growing extremely staticy.

Tashigi flew over to it. "Serena told me that your name is Raiden. What are you, Raiden?"

"Charon made Raiden," Raiden said quietly. "He said Raiden was living electricity… Raiden used to have so much fun, so many things in the house ran on electricity, and Rai could play in them all…" He raised his arm. "And he bought Raiden this so he could hug Raiden. When he grew up and went away, Rai stayed… but now everyone's dead, and the machines are broken except the TV, and even this feels broken… please don't take miss Serena away!" he cried. "Rai don't want to be alone!"

"Then come with us," Key sniffed, holding a hand out to Raiden.

He stared at the hand as if he'd never seen such a thing before. "But… Rai killed your friend," he said tentatively. "Rai killed _you_ …"

"It was an accident," Key said quietly. "You're sorry. Come make up for it. We'll help you learn to use your power so you don't accidentally hurt anyone anymore, okay?"

"Thank you…" Raiden said, hugging her hand. "Thank you…"

A siren sounded outside. "That'll be the ambulance!" Tashigi said happily, flying out of the room.

{}

{}

 _So...only one death this week? Yaaay? Also, apologies if I've badly misrepresented the use of an adrenaline needle here. Most of the resources I looked up said that an adrenaline shot is used to get the heart started before a defibrillator is used to restore regular rhythm, but I think the scene ended up looking like_ Pulp Fiction _anyway. Also they have cure-all antidote berries so maybe their adrenaline shots work differently and more reliably. That's my story and I'm sticking to it._

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Ephraim. Species: Eevee (Leafeon). Nature: Quirky. Ability: Leaf Guard. Acquired: Hearthome City._

 _Name: Raiden. Species: Rotom. Nature: Rash. Ability: Levitate. Acquired: Old Chateau_

 _RIP Medley the Meditite, level 14-20_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Golbat, Belle the Budew, Puck the Togepi_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom_


	15. Chapter 14

_Saylee—Pokémon: 11 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 20_ _th_ _, 11:35 am}_

 _{Eterna City}_

"How's it looking?" Key asked as Saylee walked out of the hospital two days later.

"Luckily, I didn't actually tear my stitches," Saylee said, patting her stomach. "The blood was just stomach lining."

"Because that's _so_ much better," Key said, making a face. "I've got some pills to take for my heart, but apparently I'm going to be alright and I can take the sling off for real in a couple of days."

"I've got extra pills too," Saylee sighed. "Bowel flushers. They think I puked out most of the poison, but still… that's going to be fun. Took them a while to find some that wouldn't clash with my digestion medication, and even then there's a whole list of nasty potential side-effects that I need to watch out for. Have you seen the Pokémon?" she added. "How are they?"

"They're at the clinic… oh, let's stop by a toy store or something first," Key suggested. "That robot that Raiden's possessing at the moment is really gross. I'll keep him in his pokéball most of the time, but if he's out and feels the need to hug me again, I'd like him to be able to do it without electrocuting me."

They picked up a cheap, pocket-sized toy robot that turned from a humanoid to a truck at the press of a button, then headed back to the clinic where their Pokémon were recovering from the loss of four more friends—and the additions of three new ones.

Caelin, Sally, Zoe and Terra had come running up the Old Chateau just as Saylee and Key were being removed on stretchers. They were followed by what Saylee recognized as one of the rarer Eeveelutions, but it wasn't until after she woke up post-surgery that she remembered that it was a Leafeon. Ephraim had been shy at first, but he'd warmed up quickly to Caelin's almost entirely female retinue, ignoring only Puck, Buddy and Raiden. In fact, most of the Pokémon, reportedly, had been quietly ignoring Raiden, though Puck and Tashigi had become very protective of the childish ghost-type.

The biggest surprise had been Gareth, a Kirlia who had appeared to Key once she'd gotten out of hospital the day before Saylee. He'd found her curled up behind the clinic, crying quietly. The sight of a Kirlia had just made Key cry harder, but she'd said that his presence with her had helped ease her through it. The empathetic Pokémon had become immediately, strongly attached to her, as often happened with his evolutionary line. He, Tashigi, Puck and Raiden were waiting for them in front of the clinic, having sensed their approach.

"How do you feel?" Saylee asked, directing the question at Tashigi and Puck.

"Cheryl called Lavender Town and they told her a prayer to say while washing it in salt water," Tashigi said, handing the bone-carved doll back to Saylee. "I don't think anything's in it anymore. I took Serena to her mother's gravestone and let her go. She's okay now. I still have Medley, though. Better to take her to a Pokémon graveyard like Lavender, don't you think?"

"Thank you, Tashigi," Key said gratefully.

"The Princess and the others are around the back," Gareth added, patting his skirt nervously. "She's… in a bad way."

"She's not handling the deaths well, is she," Saylee said resignedly. Gareth shook his head. Saylee walked around the clinic as fast as she dared with the dull soreness in her ribs and guts.

Caelin was crouched next to the wall underneath the broken window. Terra, Sally, Zoe, Belle, and Buddy were crowded around her with worried, aggrieved expressions.

"This is… uselessness…" Caelin murmured. "Is Grass Lord Teria right? Are we… am _I_ but a foolish little upstart who will never, _ever_ be strong enough?" She buried her head in her hands.

"No, my lady!" Terra insisted. "We _will_ get stronger! You'll see!"

"How many more will die for it, though?" Caelin said despondently. "How many have died already… how can my ambition be worth this?"

Saylee felt Caelin's all-consuming despair keenly. Loss was always painful, but for her it no longer wiped all else from her mind. The feeling was familiar, and flowed through her in a deeply-cut channels to feed reservoirs of rage and purpose. She still remembered how it had felt before she had learned to channel, how pain and despair flowed over everything, leaving her feel paralyzed by fear and guilt. The guilt was the worst, she knew, the thought of _if it weren't for me they'd still be alive._ She knew how Caelin felt, and only knew one way to handle it.

Saylee sat down in front of her Monferno. "If you give up now, they will have died for _nothing_ ," she said sharply. "Don't you _dare_ throw them away like that. Don't you _dare_!"

"How dare you speak to me that way!" Caelin snapped, showing an energy that relieved Saylee. "How can you expect me to put aside grief so easily?! Don't you _care_?"

"Of course I do!" Saylee yelled. "How can you think I _don't_ , after all we've been through, after all we've lost? Do I have to recite the name of every grave I've ever stood over, thinking _if it weren't for me they'd still be alive_ , for you to understand? I am never going to look at Sally and Zoe's scars without remembering what they lost-what we've all lost! That thought never goes away, Caelin, that thought never stops hurting and you need to understand that, because it hurts me every day. _But that doesn't mean that I'm just going to stop._ Is your ambition worth this? They damn well thought so, and it's up to you to make sure that it _is_ worth this, because if it isn't then their deaths were _worthless_! How _dare_ you throw them away like that!"

"You go too far!" Terra snapped. Caelin just stared at her knees.

"You need to understand, also," Saylee continued, "that that pain is the difference between you and the likes of Galactic. Because Sean, Stan, Gimli, Kel, Patricia, Philon, Leo, Basma, Seine, Connery and Zoran would be alive if it weren't for Galactic, too, and _their_ ambitions are _not_ worth the lives of the people and Pokémon that they've taken!" She coughed and stood up, clutching her chest, trying to make herself calm down and breathe normally. Crouching down and straining her lungs was _not_ helping anything.

"You okay, Lee?" Key asked in concern.

"Yeah, I'm… I'm just going for a walk," Saylee decided. "Going to clear my head and lungs before I head off after Galactic. It's up to all of you if you're coming or not."

"Saylee!" Key called as Saylee stormed off. Key ran after her and caught up to her near the statue of the legendary Pokémon. "Saylee, things have been awful since we got back to Eterna—"

"You think I don't know that?" Saylee sighed. "I just…" she wandered over to the edge of a large, ornamental pond with Goldeen and Magikarp swimming in it. "I know where Caelin is right now. I've been there, and it's infinitely easier once you're through it and keep moving. I've never had a week as awful as this one, but…" She crouched down at the edge of the pool. "Maybe I am being harsh on her. I know how to do this, I've got plenty of practice. She's still learning. But the way things are now, she needs to learn _fast_ or she's going to suffer. We all are." She trailed her fingers in the water. A small Magikarp bumped against her fingers. "She needs to get stronger if she wants to lead others. I know she can. She can be strong enough to defeat what defeated her before."

"Saylee?"

Saylee looked around. Caelin was walking towards her. The other Pokémon were clustered a distance behind her, watching nervously. "How do you feel, Caelin?" she asked.

"Aggrieved and angry," Caelin said, biting her thumb. Steadily, methodically, she drew one line down the middle of her forehead, then two slashes either side of it. Biting her thumb again, she drew another line under each of her eyes, then two slashes on each cheek. _Eleven_. "But we cannot avenge those who are gone by sitting and crying. Your advice, as ever, is invaluable to us. No more tears now. We will think upon revenge. So tell us, Saylee; how do we move forward?"

"One step at a time," Saylee said, picking up the little Magikarp that was watching them curiously. "Even a little thing like you can become a mighty Gyarados if you just keep growing stronger," she said.

"A _Gyarados_? Me?" the Magikarp said, flicking her tail excitedly. "How?"

"Let's go train and find out," Saylee said with a smile. "They say there's a good field for training at the bottom of the Cycling Road. Shall we?"

{ _Jinua 20_ _th_ _, 12:49 pm_ }

{ _Cycling Road}_

There was something refreshing about coasting down the Cycling Road. Key's arm was still in the sling, making it impossible for her to steer, so Saylee was sitting on the front of the tandem bicycle, while Key sat sidesaddle on the back. Thankfully, neither of them were having to do any work, not on the steep incline of the road. The cold wind was like a Wake-Up Slap to the face, leaving Saylee in just the kind of invigorated mood to coax their Pokémon into a dedicated training session for the remainder of the day. At the bottom of the hill was nothing but vast fields full of wild Pokémon raring for a fight. Almost as soon as they dismounted and released their Pokémon, wild Pokémon started appearing out of the grasses.

"Sar, _cherie_ , I know that one as petite as myself ought not to comment, but…" Belle nodded to Merida, the rapidly-growing Magikarp in Saylee's arms. "I do believe that Puck has more power than her."

"Wait and see," Saylee insisted with a wink. "And while you're at it, Bullet Seed that Geodude."

"You know, you're not half bad when you know what you're doing," Gareth said encouragingly to Raiden while the little ghost zapped a Staravia. "Not bad at all."

"Thank you," Raiden said shyly. "Rai will try very hard to make sure nobody else dies!"

"I was so proud of my Razor Leaf, but it just pales compared to yours, doesn't it?" Ephraim said to Terra as the pair of them shot down a group of Geodude. "How _do_ you get such beautiful leaves?"

"Thank you, but they don't need to be beautiful," Terra replied. "They need to be _sharp_."

"An hour ago he was complimenting me on 'the brightness of my sparks'," Sally muttered to Zoe. The Golbat rolled her eyes and flicked her wings in a sharp Air Cutter at a belligerent Machop.

"It's good you made the Princess all angry again instead of sad," Buddy said to Saylee. "I mean, what'd we do if she didn't want to be Fire Lord anymore?"

"Well, we're looking for somebody," Key explained. "We'll keep looking for him, not matter what, and we'd take anyone who wants to come with us."

"Also, with or without Caelin, I'm going to wipe Galactic off the face of the earth," Saylee said conversationally. "You know, if the opportunity presents itself."

"With a Magikarp?" Belle asked, nodding to Merida.

"Hell yeah!" Merida said enthusiastically. "Just you watch! I'm feelin' tougher all the time!"

Saylee pressed one of Merida's scales experimentally. A dark purple tint briefly spread across it. "I'm sure you are," she said with a satisfied grin. "Oh, if you want a roaring rampage of revenge, you should have seen Gabriel… right, everyone, the sun's going down, I know, but it'll just take a little more!"

"Well, I nearly beat this guy," Buddy said, backing away from the wild Bidoof that he was butting heads with. The wild one did indeed look the worse for wear.

"Then do you want to finish it, Merida?" Saylee asked the large and heavy Magikarp.

"Aye, sure," Merida said, drawing herself up as much as was possible for a Magikarp, which wasn't much. "…How?"

"Tackle!" Saylee called, flinging Merida at the wild Bidoof. The wild Bidoof was knocked down, and Merida bounced up, glowing. She rose up… and up… and _up_ …

"Newly-evolved Gyarados are around twenty-one feet long," Saylee said, grinning as everyone gaped at the rising leviathan. "Gabriel was undersized for a Gyarados, but even he topped twenty-five before he died. Miranda was nearly forty."

"My goodness," Caelin gasped. "Merida… you are quite magnificent."

Saylee crouched next to Caelin. "Look how strong even a little Magikarp can get," she said, gesturing to Merida, who was roaring happily and flicking her newly extended tail. "You're not going to tell me that you can't do better than a little Magikarp?"

"It's quite inspirational, isn't it, my lady?" Terra said, watching the Gyarados rear up against the setting sun.

"Quite right," Caelin declared. "We refuse to be outdone by a Magikarp. We still have light in the sky, thus we still have light to train by!" Her tail flared up.

"Score!" Sally said, grinning at Merida. "You're gonna be _awesome_ as backup when we go after Jupiter. Bitch owes me an eye."

"My leg, too!" Zoe said excitedly, flying around Merida and growing abruptly bigger. She suddenly went into a tailspin and Saylee only just caught her before she crashed. "…ack. Make that a wing."

Saylee examined the stump of her new Crobat's hind-left wing. "Congratulations," she said, hugging Zoe affectionately and picking off the now-uncomfortable prosthetics. "We can get you some permanent prosthetics now, the next time we're at the clinic. Something that'll make you look less like a cyborg."

"I dunno, I _like_ looking like a cyborg," Zoe said, twitching the stumps of her wings. "Doesn't mean I don't want 'em to pay for what they've done, though. Prosthetics can't help Zoran…"

"That _salope_ Jupiter owes blood to us all," Belle said, whipping out her thorn blade, "and I am more than happy to extract it."

"I don't know all about this Jupiter person, but… I would love to help," Merida offered. "It's thanks to you that I'm a Gyarados now. So much _power_ … just give me a target to use it on!" She roared happily again.

"Raiden will help too!" Raiden insisted. "Raiden is little, but can use power! It's Rai's fault that Medley is gone, so Rai will fight for her so nobody else gets dead! Then can Raid get hugs?" he added shyly, zapping into the toy robot. It was to considerable collective surprise that Caelin was the one to pick him up and give him a gentle hug.

"It is an honour to train with you all," Gareth said with an elegant curtsey. "I look forward to becoming mighty warriors together!"

"Then let's get back to training!" Key said. Her stomach rumbled. "…while we do that, Lee, can you cook dinner? Please?"

{ _Jinua 22_ _nd_ _, 2:17 am_ }

{ _Route 207}_

 _Damn medicine… I know it's flushing out my system, but… every hour, seriously?_

Saylee could see her breath in the air when she had to get up to use the toilet for the fourth time that night. Her pokégear clock put the time at 2.17am.

"Saylee, someone's coming!" Zoe whispered. Saylee got up and pulled her pants up as fast as possible while Zoe hovered protectively in front of her. They'd worked out a system of the Crobat flapping her single lower wing side-to-side, like a Magikarp's tail, which at least kept her stable in the air. Saylee would rather have kept her in her pokéball until they reached a Pokémon Centre, but Zoe insisted on pulling her weight for the night watch. "Where?" Saylee whispered.

"Going down the path," Zoe said quietly. Saylee decided to make her way as quietly and unobtrusively as possible back to their off-the-path campsite. Halfway there, though, she caught a glimpse in the moonlight of the man walking down the path.

There was just enough light to see blue hair and a long grey coat. _Cyrus_!

"You!" Saylee snarled, overtaken by blinding rage for a moment, a long and stupid enough moment to step onto the path in front of the man instead of heading back to her camp. "Cyrus Akagi! Of Galactic Energy Corp!"

"Yes?" Cyrus said blankly. In the moonlight, it was too dark to see his expression, but from the tone of his voice it was clear that he had no idea who she was.

"You and your Sneasel killed my Starly," Saylee snapped.

"Did we, now…?" Cyrus said, releasing what Saylee realized with a sick lurch was a Weavile. She put her arm protectively in front of Zoe; Weavile's ice attacks could be deadly to her. _I should send her back for help, but… I do_ not _want to be alone with this creep…_

"Your underlings, Pluto and Jupiter, have killed Pokémon of mine too," Saylee continued angrily. "Mercury some killed along with himself. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I fail to understand why I should say anything," Cyrus said flatly. "It is irrelevant. Soon, this world will be reborn, as it was in the beginning."

"The beginning?" Saylee said loudly. _The campsite's not far, and Sally's very alert to sounds, and this guy_ screams _dangerous…_

"According to one theory, Mt Coronet is where Sinnoh began," Cyrus explained, looking up at the imposing mountain that loomed over them. "In a newly created world… a world where only time flowed and space expanded… there should have been no strife. But what became of the world?"

"You're about to tell me, aren't you?" Saylee asked. The Weavile snarled at her for interrupting his master's monologue, but Cyrus ignored her.

"Because the human spirit is weak and incomplete, strife has spread," he continued. "The world is being ruined by it… I find this state of affairs deplorable."

The fascinating and unsettling thing about the way that Cyrus talked, Saylee realized, was that while his words sounded like angry ones, he spoke with all of the energy and emotion of a cashier at the end of an eight-hour shift telling you the price of your groceries.

"You sound like you intend to do something about that," Saylee challenged. "ACK!" She grabbed Zoe and dove aside as the Weavile slashed at them.

"Stay out of my way," Cyrus said, striding past. He and his Weavile quickly vanished into the gloom.

{}

{}

 _Nobody died this week! *happy dance* I passed my CELTA this week! *More happy dancing* I FINALLY HAVE TIME TO PLAY UNDERTALE *full-swing happy Ceilidh*_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Gaston. Species: Gastly. Nature: Impish. Ability: Levitate. Location: Old Chateau._

 _Name: Merida. Species: Magikarp. Nature: Naughty. Ability: Intimidate. Location: Eterna City._

 _Name: Beric. Species: Bronzor. Nature: Modest. Ability: Levitate. Location: Wayward Cave._

 _Name: Rebecca. Species: Ralts. Nature: Adamant. Ability: Trace. Location: Route 208_

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Gareth. Species: Ralts. Nature: Careful. Ability: Trace. Location: Route 208_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Golbat, Belle the Budew, Puck the Togepi, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Kirlia_


	16. Chapter 15

_Saylee—Pokémon: 12 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

 _{Jinua 22_ _nd_ _, 4:47 am}_

 _{Route 207}_

"Okay, is there even a _word_ for that kind of delusional," Key wanted to know, "or is he a doctoral thesis waiting to happen?"

"I don't know, but either way he scares the crap out of me," Saylee admitted. Sally had woken the others up, and they'd met Saylee halfway back to the camp. None of them had been able to fall asleep knowing that Cyrus was roaming around. It had taken Saylee some time just to stop Sally and Caelin going out into the darkness for his blood.

"Talking idealistically about a perfect world is all well and good," Saylee continued, "but he's talking like he believes it can happen in an instant. He talks like anything and everything that happens in this world is irrelevant, and _that's_ what frightens me. A perfect world isn't going to exist right now, if it ever does. I mean, obviously everyone's born weak and incomplete, but if we weren't, we couldn't become strong. If we were born perfect and never changed, what would be the point of living?"

"Conflict is necessary to Pokémon," Caelin insisted. "It is needed for us to grow. If there were no conflict, we and our siblings would be tiny Chimchar our whole lives, and then how would the most able ruler be determined?"

"Conflict happens when people are different," Saylee said. "The only way to avoid conflict would be for everyone to be exactly the same."

"Yeah, but how boring would _that_ be?" Key said, rolling her eyes.

Saylee nodded. "Conflict is not a bad thing," she agreed. "Working as a ranger, I didn't often get tied up in domestic abuse cases, but in the ones I saw—humans abusing Pokémon or each other—there was always the same pattern. Friends and neighbours are always shocked because they seemed to be in such harmony! They never argued or disagreed about _anything_!"

"Yeah, but isn't that because the victim is too scared to ever contradict their abuser?" Key asked. "I swear we had a social ed class about this…"

"That's right," Saylee confirmed. "A lack of normal, healthy conflict—dumb little arguments over what flavour of soup to buy, what to watch on TV, whatever—it's a bad sign. Everyone's different, and if those differences aren't showing, someone's afraid to speak up."

"But still, you cannot argue that conflicts such as wars are a good thing," Terra pointed out.

"No," Saylee agreed. "That's extreme conflict. Most things are bad, taken in extremes."

"Quite right," Belle agreed. "A flower needs both rain and sun, _non_? But too much of one will cause it to wither, and the other to drown. There must be balance and moderation."

"Exactly," Saylee agreed. "And conflict—the push and pull between two or more extremes—is how you find the happy middle."

"Long story short, the man's talking shite?" Merida suggested.

"Pretty much," Saylee agreed. "The only world without conflict is one without a single living thing, not so much as two plants competing for rain and sun… actually, hell, even then, you've got the sea wearing away at the land or the land rising in and out of the sea," she said, exchanging a look with Key. "What worries me the most is that the man talking shite is head of a rich, powerful and amoral energy conglomerate, and I can't shake the feeling that he's dangerous to avatars…"

"You know, Sar, you have mentioned 'avatars' multiple times, and yet you have not explained what they are," Caelin pointed out. "We would require an explanation from you now, for they sound important."

"They are," Saylee said, looking around her Pokémon, and reflexively looking out for anybody that could be listening in, though in the predawn gloom the chances that anybody else was moving around were slim. Zoe glanced around, then nodded to confirm that she couldn't see anything either. "Avatars will change the world."

{ _Jinua 22_ _nd_ _, 4:51 pm_ }

{ _Hearthome City}_

They ended up setting out well before dawn, nervous both from the explanation of avatars and a renewed sense of just how dangerous Cyrus and Galactic could be. Once they got inside of the path through Mt Coronet, in any case, mining lamps lit their way easily, and by the time they got out on the other side, dawn was beginning to break. They spent some time training on the cliff near the valley river, where Merida enjoyed being able to swim in the deep, fast water, before heading towards Hearthome in the late afternoon. The view of the city from above was an impressive, multi-coloured grid. Most cities sprawled somewhat haphazardly, with neat sections here and there, but Hearthome was a square, flat outcrop in the landscape.

The "Welcome to Hearthome" gatehouse included an interactive infoboard to allow visitors to plan which part of the incredibly varied city they wanted to visit. "It says that Hearthome was built six hundred years ago," Saylee said, reading the city history. "It was a solution to a massive population surplus in Jubilife. Almost the entire city, as it is now, was built during a single long-running construction project—schools, shops, residential areas, park and university all planned out and built by a couple, Mr and Mrs Amity. They called it 'Hearthome' after the saying 'Home is where the heart is', because they wanted their new, empty city to be filled with people who would feel right at home here."

"Guess it worked," Key said, fidgeting with her hairpin and yawning. "So how did they move people out of Jubilife?"

"Well, the university offered—and still offers—one of the best curriculums and facilities in Sinnoh, so mainly it was young people who moved to Hearthome en masse," Saylee read. "People looking for cheap housing, but also people who were already attending the University or looking to attend it, since the whole campus got transplanted here. It says here that this created a unique phenomenon where whole blocks were, basically, colonized by different groups... Whole streets dedicated to the food, clothes and other shops and services particular to specific trends and lifestyles."

"What, like… Goths, arties, techos?" Key asked.

"The city maps are actually divided up into those kind of areas," Saylee said, running her finger around the map to zoom around the different areas. "Amity square's run by the lolis, for example—cute, tiny Pokémon, frilly clothes with lots of pastel colours and bows, little tea houses with flowered tea cups. They do make the best cakes, Mum says. The gothic quarter has some truly stunning architecture… including the gym, which is ghost-type," she said with a shudder. "You have fun with that."

"Oh no, you are _not_ sending me in alone," Key insisted.

"It's okay! Rai will help zap other ghosts!" Raiden insisted, zapping into his doll and climbing out of her pocket to give her a hug. "Other ghost Pokémon at Old Chateau weren't as strong as Rai. Rai will beat any ghosts who scare Rai's new friends!"

"Thanks," Key giggled, giving him a hug.

"You speak knowledgeably of this habitat, Saylee," Caelin said. "Have you been here before?"

"Yeah… I've only been to Sinnoh once, when I came here for my mum's wedding," Saylee said, moving the map to the beauty quarter. "The Contest hall is here. They're not like Hoenn contests, they're much more… dancy. Anyway, they also have a really gorgeous hall for formal functions like weddings, and that area's where you get all the really elegant, beautiful dresses and shoes. Best hairdressers and beauticians, too. Lots of people get married there. She keeps sending me brochures for the University, too, but I don't think I could just drop my ranger work in Kanto for four years…" Her phone rang. The caller ID said _Mum_. "Speak of a Gengar… Hi, Mum!" she said, picking up. "How's it going?"

" _Very well, dear, I'm more worried about you!_ " Johanna said. " _As ever. I just wanted to check how you're recovering, dear. Your stitches will dissolve soon, right?_ "

"I'm doing fine, Mum," Saylee promised. "Key and I just got into Hearthome, so I'm going to check into a hospital in the morning for a checkup…"

" _Hearthome? That's wonderful! I'm in the city just now for a contest! You should come meet me at the Contest Hall! It would be wonderful to see you._ "

"Really?" Saylee said,smiling. "Sure! We'll come to the contest hall right away!"

" _Wonderful! It'll really set my mind at ease to see you both safe. I'll wait in the entry hall for you. I love you, dear._ "

"Love you too, Mum," Saylee said, then hung up. "Guess we're going to the contest hall, then. Oh, yeah, city law…" she glanced at the gatekeeper, who was sitting at a computer behind her desk and was watching Saylee and Key's gaggle of Pokémon critically. "Only one Pokémon under a certain size out…"

"Two if they're both under three feet, miss," the gatekeeper mentioned.

"Caelin and Puck, Terra and Tashigi?" Saylee suggested.

"Agreed," Caelin said with a nod. Saylee and Key returned the rest of their Pokémon, save for the four named, Belle and Raiden. Belle hid in Saylee's scarf, the tiny Budew easily going unnoticed. Raiden refused to leave his doll, so Key pocketed him. To the eyes of the guard, they had their max of four small Pokémon out.

Saylee felt more comfortable with more Pokémon out. As far as she knew, Galactic Energy didn't have a branch in Hearthome, but she still felt nervous and paranoid. _Even Team Rocket didn't kill as many as we've already lost to Galactic…_

"So this is the Hearthome Uni?" Key said, looking up at the tall structure of wood, steel and coloured glass rising above them. It was one of the first buildings that they saw as they stepped out of the gatehouse. The light through all of the large windows of the university cast shifting, coloured shapes on the grass of the square ahead of them. Four fountains around the square all had groups of students sitting near them. The water was warm and steaming, making it comfortable enough to be outside even in the twilight.

"You'll see a lot of people like them around the beauty quarter," Saylee said, nodding to two glamorous women and a stunningly beautiful man who were all sitting on the edge of a fountain to take off their high-heeled shoes and rub their feet. All of them had artfully curled hair, glittering makeup and knee-length expensive dresses with patterned tights.

"You could _never_ wear that much black in Hoenn," Key muttered in fascination as they walked past a trio of Goths, distinctive for their black hair, pale makeup and elaborate black clothing. One of them even had fake Zubat wings on the back of their dress, which flapped at random times.

"We'll check that out tomorrow when we go to the gym," Saylee promised. A group of girls and boys in frilly, lacy dresses and coats were peering and giggling at Puck and Tashigi. "C'mon, let's cut through the literary quarter to get there."

"Is that the fastest route?" Caelin asked.

"No, the Cult quarter's the fastest way there, but I like the literary quarter better," Saylee said, leading them onto a street full of bookstores, stationary shops and small cafes full of young people writing away in notebooks or on laptops. There were also a couple of pubs where, through the windows, very similar young people could be seen shouting slam poetry into microphones or crying over drinks and manuscripts.

"What's the Cult quarter?" Tashigi asked, flitting out of the way of a group of joggers, their breath fogging the air.

"That's not its proper name, but that's what everyone except the people who live there call it," Saylee said, staring distractedly through the window of a second-hand bookshop. "It's kind of been taken over by a very severe religion. It comes with guidelines for how to live basically every moment of your life, right down to the food you eat, so they need their own restaurants and stuff…. They believe that there is one true god that is neither human nor Pokémon, but some perfect combination of both…. Huh." She laughed. "They're not actually far off, they're just not very accurate with the numbers, and I'm not sure if their step-by-step process to a perfect afterlife is quite on the money either, but points for trying. They're not bad, they can just be a little judgemental about non-members… this way." They passed by the vast Hearthome library, which was advertising a display of unusual books. Several Goths had paused by the display and were discussing going to see the exhibition of books bound in unusual materials, including human skin.

The beauty quarter was bustling in the early evening; everyone there was dolled up in dresses and tuxedos, strolling on the airy, tree-lined boulevards and meeting for drinks and dinner in expensive-looking cafés. Saylee, Key and their Pokémon were nearly blinded as the Contest Hall's outer lights blazed on for the evening, turning the elegant, looming structure of smooth pink stone into a shining beacon in the early evening gloom. Tourists immediately started snapping photos, while locals and their families didn't even look up. Further away from the University, it was clearer that the population of the city, despite its reputation and image, wasn't solely students; families with children were out with their Pokémon, as well as teenagers on dates and elderly couples out for dinner and a show at one of the theatres or the Contest Hall.

The entrance hall of the Contest Hall was more pink, with plush carpets, glittering chandeliers and ribbons and photographs of contest winners adorning the walls. It reminded Saylee of a somewhat classier version of Whitney's club in Goldenrod City.

"Isn't that your mom there?" Key said, nodding her head in Johanna's direction, unable to point with one arm still in the sling and the other carrying Terra.

"Yep," Saylee said, spotting her mother, who was chatting to a young girl in a big, foofy pink-and-yellow dress. Two Buneary were bouncing around their feet, playing with their ears; Saylee recognized one as Belladonna. "Mum! Belladonna! Hey!" She waved, striding over to them.

Johanna smiled brightly when she spotted them. "Hello, dear," she said, giving Saylee a hug. "Who's this little sweetie? He looks just like Toby when he was little! You, too," she said, smiling at Tashigi. "Hello, Key, dear, how are you?"

"Very well, thanks, Jo," Key said, nodding to her Togetic. "This is Tashigi, and Saylee's carrying Puck."

"Nice to meet you… and these must be Princess Caelin and Terra!" Johanna said, smiling at the Monferno and Turtwig. "It's an honour to meet you both. I've heard so much about you!"

"It is an honour for us to meet Sar's esteemed mother," Caelin said formally. "Belladonna, how are you?"

"Johanna's going to enter me into a contest!" Belladonna said happily. "Training with Miller is a good workout and all, but really, the boy has no _elegance…_ what can you expect from a Machop, though, hmm?" She said, rolling her eyes. "And I really think a Fire Lord's army should be more than brute thugs."

"Quite right, _cherie_ , quite right!" Belle agreed, popping out of Saylee's scarf. "Good evening, _mademoiselles_. You did not see me here."

"She's so cute!" the girl in the foofy dress squealed. "Even your daughter has cute Pokémon, huh? Oh, look at the time! Betty and I had better go get ready for the show!" She scooped up her Buneary. "Thanks for the tips, Johanna!" She ran off to one of the rehearsal rooms.

"We're actually competing tonight," Johanna said excitedly. "I found the most beautiful showdress that matches Belladonna here perfectly… I also saw a dress that would suit you perfectly, dear," she added to Saylee. "It was a lovely periwinkle blue, it would really bring out your eyes. You ought to let me bring you to a fitting."

"When am I going to wear it, Mum?" Saylee said with a shrug. "Don't waste your money."

"You could always go on a nice date with Blue in it," Johanna said with a wink. "How is he? Have you talked to him lately?"

"No…" Saylee sighed in frustration. "I've talked to _Daisy_ , who said he's called and said that he's left his pokegear at home and hasn't come back for it yet, so for all she knows he's wandering around Hoenn. I bought him that pokégear so he could _carry it with him_ …"

"Who is this Blue?" Caelin said curiously.

"My boyfriend," Saylee said, frowning at her pokégear. "…I hope he's alright. It's been a long time since either of us was so completely out of contact like this…"

"Knowing both of you, he's probably in a lot of trouble," Johanna said, giving her daughter another hug. "And knowing you both, he'll come out of it alright in the end. Now, I need to go get dressed for the show myself!"

"Good luck!" Key said enthusiastically.

"Thank you, dear, I'm going to need it," Johanna said ruefully. "Fantina's competing tonight, and she's _very_ hard to beat."

"Hey, this'll be a good chance for you to scope out the competition, such as it is," Saylee said, nudging Key. "Good luck, Mum! We'll get good seats and be rooting for you!"

{ _Jinua 22_ _nd_ _, 6:00 pm_ }

{ _Contest Hall, Hearthome City}_

"This is quite a pageant," Caelin said, looking around as the audience filed into the show hall. She was sitting on a chair between Saylee and Key, with Terra in her lap. Tashigi was sitting on Key's lap, and Puck in Saylee's. They were sitting just behind the right shoulders of the three judges, who were watching the four contestants parade their dressed-up Pokémon around the stage.

Key was watching Fantina, a tall, slender woman in a huge, shimmering purple dress and a large, bulbous purple hairstyle. She was waltzing around with her large and surprisingly elegant Drifblim. Saylee glanced at her occasionally, trying to assess what kind of trainer she was, but she mainly watched her mother.

Johnna's dress was a pale cream ballgown with a fluffy collar, sleeve cuffs and hem, which matched a Buneary's fluff perfectly. She was smiling radiantly as she bounced around the stage with Belladonna, clearly having the time of her life, even though Fantina took a very early lead and never dropped it for a second.

Most of Saylee's memories of her mother, growing up, were of a starving, tired, sad woman who didn't often have the energy to smile. Neither of them had smiled much for a long time after Red's death was found out. But Johanna had started smiling again the day she met Byron, and had just kept getting brighter from there.

Kanto was still a brutal recovering nation, the world had nearly ended just a couple of months before, Galactic had murdered nearly a dozen of her and her best friend's Pokémon and her boyfriend was missing, but seeing her mother recover so well and be so happy made Saylee feel, just for a while, that everything was going to be alright.

{}

{}

 _What is this…_ happiness _? Peacefulness? Urrrgh… doesn't feel right…_

 _The Fabulous Key-Chan offers her deepest apologies for being late about the last couple of weeks of DD. Her writing brain hasn't been on-neither's mine, all things considered, I'm only getting stuff published because I've had most of this fic written for over a year._

 _I also want to take a moment to speak in memory of my Grandma, who died on Thursday. Her funeral will be on Tuesday, and it hurts that I can't go out for it (because short-notice transatlantic flights are hella expensive), but we got Mum out to Colorado to be with her for her last week and she'll be able to go to the funeral and stay with Grandpa for a while, which is what's important. We've all known that this was coming for some time, and the hospice nurse even predicted the day pretty accurately, but it's still a painful loss. After how ill she's been the past couple of years she was probably ready for a rest, but we won't get to walk around the cabin in Colorado with her anymore, or quilt with her, or visit her at the soup kitchen she ran, or make peanut butter fudge with her ever again. We were blessed with her for 86 years, but it doesn't feel like enough when I've lived on the opposite side of the planet from her most of my life and have only been able to see her regularly over the past year when she got Skype. She was worth visiting Oklahoma for. She got the last laugh, though-she wrote her own obituary a couple of years ago, and when my Mum was updating it with her "survived by" details and date of death for publication, she found out that the photo Grandma chose was her driving license photo from the eighties. People who didn't know her are gonna think she died looking really good for 86!_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Crobat, Belle the Budew, Puck the Togepi, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Kirlia_


	17. Chapter 16

_Saylee—Pokémon: 12 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

 _While it generally doesn't matter whether you read a Del or DD chapter first each week or even if you read both, if you're reading both then this week I do recommend reading_ Deliverance 22 _before this chapter. The flow of events makes a little more sense that way._

{ _Jinua 22_ _nd_ _, 8:30 pm}_

 _{Hearthome City}_

Saylee knew that her mother often rented a small flat in Hearthome during the contest season, but had never seen it before. It transpired that, by Sinnoh standards, a small flat was big enough for all of the Pokémon except Merida to lounge around the living room while Johanna cooked them poffins and put together dinner for herself, Saylee and Key in a tiny kitchenette. The place was well-furnished and fully decorated, although in an almost blinding level of orange, which might have accounted for the reasonable rent.

"Did you see Silver?" Johanna asked, pouring pasta into a pot. "How'd he doing? I'm worried that he wouldn't tell me if anything's wrong…"

"He's doing great," Saylee assured her mother. "And it looks like he's enjoying the leader job. I mean, he doesn't even seem to mind when he's _losing_ , and given that this is _Silver_ …"

"I do miss having him underfoot, but I'm glad he's doing well," Johanna said with a smile, stirring the pasta sauce. "I wish I could've raised you and Red like this…" She gestured around the little apartment, which was small and cheap by Sinnoh standards, was still luxurious even by modern Kanto standards. "I love having your Pokémon around, too. Belladonna especially shows a great deal of talent for contests… I was worried I'd have to stop attending for a while. Now that Jumpy has her baby, she's not so much into competing."

"Is that why she stayed behind?" Saylee asked, glancing around at the conspicuous absence of her mother's Kangaskhan. "How's she doing, anyway?"

"She's named the baby Hoppy," Johanna said with a happy smile, taste-testing her sauce. "Mmmm… just about. She wants to do a mother and daughter duo performance when Hoppy's a little older, though." The oven _dinged_. "Ah, that'll be the poffins. Can you girls hand them out while I finish up the pasta?"

"That smells brilliant!" Sally exclaimed when Saylee and Key brought the poffins through and started doling them out.

"They're so _warm_!" Zoe added happily, chomping away at hers.

"Thank you very much, ma'am," Ephraim said, bowing his head to Johanna as she came through with three bowls of pasta for the humans.

" _Bon appétit_!" Belle said, nibbling her way into hers.

"I'm glad you all like them!" Johanna said, smiling brightly at them while she handed bowls to Saylee and Key. "Here you go, girls…"

"Thank you!" Key said, sitting down with her bowl. "This smells as good as the poffins…"

"Mum can make good food out of anything, and I mean _anything_ ," Saylee said with a grin. "So, how are things in Canalave, Mum?"

"Oh, I don't know if you heard the news, dear," Johanna gasped. "Well, actually, I don't suppose it made it to the news… I mean, I haven't seen any news about it, which is rather odd, really. But it's filtered out through local gossip… Galactic Corp have been breaking into the Halfmoon Hotel in Canalave!"

"The… what? Why?" Saylee gasped, spaghetti slipping off of her fork.

"Well, nobody knows," her mother sighed. "Mr Adamson, the manager, has been to the police repeatedly about it, but the investigations have always gone nowhere and not been publicized. But since that hotel's a magnet for weird gossip and rumours, the news has started to spread. It may have to do with Newmoon and Fullmoon Island…"

"Those two little islands just off the coast of Canalave?" Saylee asked, clumsily trying to swirl up some more pasta. "They're rumoured to be where Darkrai and Cresselia live, but…"

"Well, maybe they were once," Johanna said, stirring her sauce into her pasta. "They're private property and off-limits, but kids on dares have swum out there, of course, and there's nothing there but some Golbat and Solrock and such… all normal Pokémon. But the thing about the islands is, well, they didn't exist until three years ago."

"You mean they just appeared out of nowhere?" Key said, nonplussed. "Really?"

"Really," Johanna agreed. "Actually, they're in the way of the previous shipping lanes, so it's pretty much impossible for them to have been there before. But suddenly, three years ago, there they were, when that young man went missing…"

"Wh' yng…" Saylee caught her mother's look and chewed very quickly so she could swallow. "What young man?" she asked.

"Well, before Mr Adamson bought the Halfmoon Hotel, it was a derelict called the Harbour Inn," Johanna explained. "It was rumoured to be haunted, so nobody would buy and renovate it. Any time someone went missing, the Inn would be blamed. Ghost Pokémon colonized it. Two weeks before the islands appeared, a young foreign woman came running into the police station to report that her boyfriend had gone missing in the Harbour Inn."

"What does this have to do with the islands?" Key asked, confused.

"I'm getting there, dear, be patient," Johanna remonstrated her with a smile. "Two weeks later, a friend of theirs—Mr Adamson—came into Canalave to help her look for him. Now, this is all what I've heard second-hand, but they both went into the Harbour Inn one night and, in the morning, they were found on Newmoon Island, along with the missing boyfriend. The couple were very ill and spent a month in the hospital recuperating. In the meantime, Mr Adamson bought the Harbour Inn and found the deeds to the islands in it. Once the couple were out of hospital, they pulled together a loan and with the help of their Pokémon, they rebuilt the Harbour Inn as the Halfmoon Hotel, which is doing very well now… they have been absolutely _piling_ up the tourist money from supernatural fans and ghost tours, especially since many of the Pokémon have actually stayed and are apparently quite happy to help with the tours and suchlike. The couple who went missing and somebody's family live there, I believe, although I've never met them myself. Supposedly, they're very reclusive and don't speak Fairlan very well."

"Back up… they were ill?" Saylee asked thoughtfully. "What with?"

"Funnily enough, the doctors couldn't identify what," Johanna said, arching an eyebrow. "They suffered from nightmares and hallucinations, fevers and terrible weaknesses… the first time I heard about it, I couldn't help being reminded of how ill poor Silver was before. And they did appear on a mythical island that was said to be where a legendary Pokémon lived…"

"Are you saying that they could be avatars?" Key asked quickly.

"Sounds like they could well be," Saylee agreed. "When did you hear about this, Mum?"

"Oh, only very recently," Johanna said apologetically. "All this happened before I married Byron, so I never really heard about it until people starting talking about the break-ins to the hotel."

"The next time we get to Canalave, we _have_ to check it out," Saylee decided. "Byron's gym is there, so we'll probably end up there eventually…" She frowned. "Galactic breaking into the hotel, you say?"

"Well, people in those awful uniforms of theirs, certainly. And it's not being properly investigated," Johanna said with a nod. "Mr Adamson always says that they haven't stolen anything, but he hasn't said a word on what he thinks they're trying to steal."

"Avatars," Saylee said, clenching her fork nervously. "They know…?"

"Miss?" Tashigi put in. "Perhaps they don't _know_ about avatars. Mrs Johanna said that it's very common local gossip, after all, that the islands appeared after those people went missing on them. You also said that the islands are traditionally associated with the gods Cresselia and Darkrai, yes?"

"More than that, the new moon itself is associated with Darkrai and the full moon with Cresselia, as I recall," Saylee said. "You think they're after the gods?"

"Titania's trainer, Lady Cynthia, is certain of it," Tashigi said with a nod. "Cyrus has been chasing up myths and legendary Pokémon all over Sinnoh. If these islands are empty, perhaps Galactic feels that these foreigners will be able to direct them to the gods…"

"I felt it was worth it for you to know, in any case," Johanna said, finishing off her plate. "Now, who's for seconds?"

{ _Jinua 23_ _rd_ _, 10:30 am_ }

{ _Hearthome Gym, Hearthome City}_

"Beautiful building, isn't it?" Johanna said as the three humans approached Hearthome gym the next morning, Pokémon in pokéballs in accordance with the gym's pre-battle rules. The black stone building was carved in delicately intricate ways that seemed impossible for stone, looming even over the rest of the huge, dark, elaborate architecture in the rest of the quarter. There were few people in the streets, likely due to the fact that, according to a flier that had come in through Johanna's door, a fairly popular street magician doing some sort doing a major performance a few streets over. The lack of people and the occasional distant gasps and screams of (hopefully pleasant) surprise made the place all the spookier. The gym's huge, ornate doors creaked open ominously as they approached.

"Good luck, Key dear," Johanna said, giving the blonde girl a hug. "I'm sorry… Fantina's a very kind and entirely fabulous woman, but her ghosts frankly terrify me."

"She looked frivolous at the show last night, but you can't control ghosts without an extremely strong will," Saylee said, peering into the gloom of the gym. "We'll see you when we get out, Mum?"

"Give me a call after you've won!" Johanna said, waving them off as they stepped into the gym.

"Have I told you how much I don't like ghosts?" Saylee said with a shiver as they walked through the darkness. "Because I really don't—huh?"

Something cold was blocking their way forwards. They could step from side to side, but couldn't go forwards, until they stepped far enough to the right that somehow they found a way forwards.

"I don't blame you, this is _creepy_ ," Key shivered. "I wish I was allowed to get my Pokémon out before the battle…I bet Gareth or Tashigi could sense the way…"

"Wait a minute," Saylee said, digging into her bag. "Where are they… right at the bottom, of _course_." Struggling awkwardly, she finally managed to pull out a pair of white binoculars. "Use these."

"Your Silph Scope?" Key asked, turning the device over in her hands. "Oh, ghost gym, duh… AH!" She put the scope down as quickly as she put it to her eyes, turning white. "Okaaaay… tell you what. You hang onto my hand and follow me through the maze and never, ever ask me how many ghosts are in this room, okay?"

"I'm just going to quietly pretend there aren't any, how's that sound?" Saylee asked, taking Key's hand and following her through the gloom, trying despite her nervousness not to grip too hard—Key had only removed her sling, with a doctor's approval, earlier that morning, and as she was still on her heart pills, her pale colour and frightened reaction to the ghosts was worrying Saylee slightly. Ghosts excelled at mind games and frights, and it wasn't hard to imagine what the invisible walls were made of or to suspect tricks and traps around them.

After a good thirty minutes of going back and forth in the invisible maze and going in and out of doors that lead to odd places, they finally found themselves in a large, grey-tiled room set up in a standardized battlefield. Fantina came waltzing in through a door at the opposite end of the room, wearing a huge purple ballgown that was just as fabulous as her show clothes. Her age and features were hard to determine under the elaborate clothes and show makeup.

"Ohohoho! Finally, you have arrived!" she laughed. "I heard of you in the backstage of the contest from Johanna! Your mother, _non_?" she said, waving to Saylee.

"Yeah, although you'll be fighting Key," Saylee said, stepping back and letting Key step up to the box.

"I was surprised to see you at the contests yesterday," Key said, gesturing to Fantina. "Isn't it a weird kind of thing for a Leader to do?"

"Since I came to this country from Kalos, always I try to learn new things," Fantina insisted. "They hold Contests in this city? I say to myself, _enfin_ , I will excel. That's why I dress this way. _C'est une performance!"_ She twirled with a laugh. When she was done with the twirl, three pokéballs had appeared in her hands. "Also I study Pokémon very much. I have come to be Gym Leader. And, uh, so it shall be that you challenge me. But I shall win. That's what a Gym Leader does, _non_?" She threw her first pokéball into the air and released a Duskull.

"No, that's what _we_ do," Key said, choosing Ephraim. "Bite!"

With the battle underway and Saylee left hanging back in the shadows, Saylee decided that gym rules could go to hell and let Caelin back out to watch and create a comforting circle of firelight. "This place is… unsettling," the Princess said, looking around the dark gym. "Where are we?"

"Hearthome Gym," Saylee said, watching the Duskull vanish under Ephraim's jaws. "The leader uses ghosts… I feel more comfortable with you and your fire nearby." Fantina replaced the Duskull with a Haunter, which raked shadowy claws through the air at Ephraim. Ephraim tried to dodge, but Haunter's disconnected phantom hands hit him from every angle.

"Ephraim, if you cannot dodge, then attack!" Caelin called.

"Sssh, you're not supposed to be out," Saylee said, holding Caelin back. The Monferno was growing stronger, and was now at three and a half feet tall; her tail flame shot high above her head, illuminating a comfortingly bright area around Saylee. Fantina didn't seem to notice, being distracted by her Haunter being taken down by an offensive from Ephraim.

"Ha! Never give up, never surrender!" Fantina laughed, releasing her third Pokémon, a tall and elegantly frightening Mismagius. "Mallory, _chérie_ , Psybeam!"

"No!" Key cried as Ephraim was blasted over by the beam of psychic energy. He curled up on the ground, wailing. "Ephraim, return!"

"Good thing he wasn't her strongest for this gym," Saylee muttered.

"Never open with your strongest… a wise strategy," Caelin agreed with a nod. "So, Sar, who is optimal for facing this gym?"

"Go, Gareth!" Key called, releasing her Kirlia. "Use Thief!"

"He'll certainly do," Saylee said, sighing in relief as Gareth pirouetted smoothly around Mallory and attacked her from behind. Mallory countered with a powerful Shadow Ball that knocked Gareth flat on his back.

"Gareth, are you okay?!" Key cried.

"Fmm!" Gareth called, somewhat muffled as he leapt back to his feet. He chewed and swallowed quickly. "I'm fine. She had a Sitrus berry. This will make a poor show of thanks, but…" He attacked again, and this time Mallory collapsed around his petite fists.

"Ah-ha! You are fantastically strong!" Fantina laughed, applauding. "Now I know why I have lost!"

"Well done, Gareth!" Key said happily, hugging him. "You and Ephraim did brilliantly!"

" _Oui_ , I am dumbfounded! So very, very strong!" Fantina said, dancing and twirling across the field towards Key. "You, your Pokémon, so strong! Your power is admirable! I shall honour it with this Gym Badge!" She presented a silver-and-purple badge to Key with a flourish.

"Well fought, Gareth," Caelin commended him, stepping onto the battlefield. "Now, shall we ask about Prince's kidnapper and be on our way?"

"A kidnapper, you say? _Mon dieu_!" Fantina gasped. " _Quoi, qui, ou?_ "

"The person in question might have been using a Piplup, a Luxio, or their evolutions," Saylee explained. She rattled off Archie's profile. "His name's Archie Irving. Have you had a challenger like that recently?"

"Ah, _mais oui_ , him I do remember!" Fantina laughed. "A _tres élégant_ gentleman, that one! He had a Luxray, though, not a Luxio. He was… somewhat unwell," she said cagily. "Possessed, you see, by an _exceptionally_ rare ghost Pokemon…"

"Possessed?" Key asked with concern. "What happened to him?"

"His equally _élégant_ friend brought him here to seek my aid," Fantina recalled, gesturing up to one of her Haunter, who flew away through a wall. "I helped him to calm down the ghost so he could capture it, though this alone may not be enough to help him control it… alas, he and his friend vanished both in the morning, before I could warn them."

"He might be possessed…?" Saylee said nervously. "By… _what_?"

"Well… ah, here is Guillaume now," Fantina said, clapping her hands as her Haunter returned with a book. " _Merci_ , Guillaume." It was an older-looking paper book with a broken spine and dog-eared pages, clearly much-read. "This is what he now commands, or perhaps is commanded by," the Hearthome leader said, flipping the book around to show them two pages about the Forbidden Pokémon, Spiritomb.

They read the description of Spiritomb's powers. They got three steps into the instructions for creating one before Key went pale and covered her eyes, whispering that she was going to puke, while Saylee reached forwards and slammed the book closed.

"I'm going to read about Spiritomb on the pokédex," she said firmly. "...those instructions aren't on the pokédex, are they?"

" _Bien sûr que non!_ " Fantina exclaimed. "This is rare information indeed. I show it to you because you are a Knight of Kanto and a Champion of Hoenn, and I am sure that such fine people will not be seeking to create a new Spiritomb." She handed the book back to Guillaume, who flew off with it again. "Of course, I would not have shared this information had I known that that man was the notorious Archibald Irving…"

"Aqua weren't _that_ bad," Key mumbled, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "...not on _purpose_ , anyway."

"Aqua, _non_ , but Galactic…?" Fantina asked with a delicately arched eyebrow. She arched the other in surprise at Saylee and Key's confused looks. "Have you not heard the rumours that Archibald Irving has joined Team Galactic?"

" _What_?!" Saylee and Key yelped in unison.

"He joined _Galactic_?! _Why_?!" Key asked.

"...that is _so many_ kinds of not good," Saylee mumbled. "Where did you hear this rumour?"

"It is only a rumour," Fantina said with a shrug. "It has been spreading amongst the Leaders of late. I am unclear if it is true… his friend did not seem to me to be a Galactic sort. You are lucky girls, _non_ , to be seeking to handcuff such handsome men?" She added with a wink. "Ohohohohoho!"

"His friend?" Saylee said, growing increasingly confused. "A _human_ friend? He's with another human?"

" _Mais oui_ ," Fantina said in surprise. "This is not known to you?"

"It is now," Key said. "Can you tell us what this guy looked like?"

"I am afraid I cannot recall, other than that he was handsome," Fantina sighed. "Alas, I saw him but fleetingly. He left quickly, I am afraid, and then his friend was gone in the night. They had badges from Oreburgh and Eterna, though, so perhaps next they will be seeking out Maylene in Veilstone? Oh, and _chérie_ … do be careful, hmm? I helped him to gain some control over the Spiritomb which possessed him, but nevertheless, it was a powerful creature indeed." She sighed thoughtfully. "Per'aps it is this which drove him to his crimes, _non_? Ah, ghosts are such wonderfully mysterious creatures!"

"That's one way to put it," Saylee grumbled. "Thank you for your help, though."

" _De rien_ ," Fantina said with a flourishing curtsey. "You will pass by the Hallowed Tower on your way to Veilstone. Do accept of their spell and cleanse charms. Per'aps they shall protect you."

"We will, thanks," Key said, shivering.

"Veilstone next, then?" Caelin said, looking to Saylee.

"Lunch with mum next," Saylee reminded her. " _Then_ Veilstone. We need to have our priorities."

{}

{}

 _Yet more no death…? What is going on here? Well, they did spend the whole chapter in a ghost gym… by the way, because I'm a really horrible person, I actually came up with some instructions for creating a Spiritomb. They've been posted on on the Random Oneshots of Random collection, which I STILL don't have a better name for. Warning for gore._

 _On a brighter note: I saw Star Wars VII on midnight release this week, and I cannot even describe to you how happy and relieved I am that it's a genuinely good movie. JJ clearly does a much better job when Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman aren't "writing" for him; the writing is good, the characters are fantastic, the setpieces and music are gorgeous, it's legitimately funny and none of the throwbacks to the Original Trilogy are obtrusive or annoying. I can honestly say that it feels much more like an Original Trilogy movie than the Prequels, and I can't even tell you how happy that makes me. Please go see it. Treat yo self._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Crobat, Belle the Budew, Puck the Togepi, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Kirlia_


	18. Chapter 17

_Saylee—Pokémon: 12 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 23_ _rd_ _, 1:03 pm}_

 _{Hearthome City}_

"If you move quickly, you can make it to Hallowed Tower by nightfall," Johanna said, giving Saylee a hug and a kiss on the cheek goodbye. "It's quite impressive, well worth a visit."

"…I don't think we need to move _that_ quickly," Saylee said with a shudder. "I've had enough of ghosts for today."

"Agreed," Key said, checking the time. "We can just camp out and train a little extra."

"Well, if you're camping out, this'll be perfect for dinner!" Johanna said, handing Saylee a canvas bag. Saylee opened it up and found a dozen or so plastic boxes, each with a poffin and different selection of berries inside. "Sweet for Sally, sour for Terra, a little bit of everything for the Princess…"

"Is there one for me? Is there?" Puck asked, hopping out of Saylee's arms and into the bag. Belle followed curiously.

"The little one with blue and red triangles," Johanna giggled. Puck cheered excitedly and hopped out of the bag, then kept on rising.

"Puck!" Tashigi said excitedly. "Look at you!"

"You evolved!" Saylee said happily, watching Puck flit around, craning his longer neck around to stare at his wings. "Congratulations! Your mother will be so proud!"

"Won't she?" Puck said, looking excited enough to evolve again as he flew happy circles in the air.

" _Très bien_!" Belle said, peering out of her bag and splitting her bud to wave both halves at Puck. "Ah, it's a wonderful day! Beautiful weather, good food, proud company... oh!"

The halves of her bud suddenly uncurled, blooming into a pink rose on her right side and a blue one on her left. Saylee's mother gasped in surprise as the bag dipped slightly. Belle was growing taller, unfurling out of her bud and into a foot-tall humanoid rose. The scar down the side of her face remained, crumpling the leaves on that side of her head somewhat, making her appear to be permanently winking.

"Belle! You have become a Roselia!" Caelin cried. "This is wonderful! And might we add that you both have become quite beautiful!"

"You think so?" Belle said happily, jumping out of the bag and doing a twirl on the ground, flourishing her roses. She bowed low to Caelin. "I am honoured, _ma belle princesse_." Caelin smiled.

"We have _got_ to get on the move so we can get all of the larger Pokémon out and show them!" Key said excitedly. "Thank you so much, Johanna!"

"It's nothing, dear," Johanna said, smiling warmly. "You girls be safe. Although with such powerful Pokémon with you, I'm sure you'll be fine!"

{ _Jinua 23_ _rd_ _, 2:17 pm_ }

{ _Route 209}_

"Beautiful, very beautiful!" Ephraim said, sniffing Belle's roses. "Divine scent, as well."

"Not too much for your delicate little nose?" Belle said, bopping him gently on the nose with her pink rose. "Sally, Terra, Zoe, _chéries_ , what do you think?"

"They do smell really, really nice," Sally said, giving them a sniff. "Can you still make your thorn sword, though?"

" _Mais oui_!" Belle said proudly, swishing out two thorns from the centres of her roses. "Two of them! To cut twice as many _connards_!"

"That's good!" Buddy said happily. "Can you fly like Puck? Puck can fly now!"

"I know he can, _chérie_ , but the sky is not for me!" Belle chastised him.

"Puck can fly with Raiden now!" Raiden said happily, zapping in circles around Puck. "Yay! Can you play with Rai now?"

"Only if you _don't_ zap me," Puck said, flying off with the little lightning ghost, circling Merida, who flinched nervously from Raiden's electricity.

"Everyone is progressing splendidly, aren't they, my lady?" Terra said, looking up to Caelin.

"Indeed," Caelin agreed proudly. "Sar, would you say that any others are soon to evolve?"

"Sally might not be far," Saylee said, checking her pokédex. "Gareth isn't far from being a Gardevoir, either."

"Really?" Gareth said, dismayed. "Don't get me wrong, Gardevoir are beautiful and elegant creatures, but I have always wished to be a Gallade… they are the finest warriors in the land, you know."

"A Gallade, huh?" Saylee said thoughtfully. "You need… a Dawn Stone, right? I could give Byron a call, see if he's got one. He's got tons of rare rocks from the mines. He gave me the Shiny Stone that allowed Tobias to evolve…" She looked thoughtfully at Puck and Tashigi. "Until then, if you feel the sudden urge for a long, flowing skirt, feel free to hold off. The only other one who might be close is…" She looked down at Terra. "I'm honestly surprised that you haven't evolved yet, Terra. I know you don't battle often, but still, you really should be a Grotle by now."

"Oh, no, I couldn't be a Grotle, it's not my place," Terra insisted.

"Not your place?" Key asked, confused.

"The rankings of the Eterna clan forbid it," Caelin said, putting Terra on her lap. "We do not mind. Is she not adorable? And she is still our dearest companion regardless of her form."

"I'm honoured, my lady," Terra said shyly.

"Of course she is adorable, she is Terra!" Belle said, twirling over. "All grass-types are adorable. Except for those of us who are _très belle_!"

{ _Jinua 24_ _th_ _, 11:11 am_ }

{ _Route 209}_

"I don't like this," Tashigi muttered, fluttering nervously away from the ruined tower. "We should go."

"There definitely is… or _was_ … something evil here," Gareth said, leaning on point to peer at the crumbling stone. Though the sun was well over the horizon, the interior of the tower was pitch black.

"It's tiny," Key said, walking around the base of the little tower. The diameter was barely six feet, and there was nothing left of it but collapsing outer walls. There were a few holes in the tower at the base of the wall. "What's with these holes?"

"I dunno… drains, maybe?" Saylee said, crouching down and peering at the hole. "They're pretty big. I wonder how the rocks on top of the hole are holding up without it, though? I don't see any mortar or anything…" She frowned. "I've helped build houses in Kanto… I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure this is where a key stone would go… like, one of the foundation stones. I don't know how any of the wall at _all_ is holding up without these…"

"We cannot say, but given that those among us with psychic powers are _very_ nervous, shall we move along?" Caelin suggested, looking at Puck, Tashigi and Gareth, who were all trying to back away from the tower.

"Raiden's enthusiasm unnerves me, too," Belle commented, watching the little ghost zap happily around the inside of the tower. "Is this the Hallowed Tower?"

"No, that is," Saylee said, pointing at the tall, thick tower that loomed over them to the north in a block of dark grey. "We'll stop there for a while. We can stay the night in Solaceon Town, but for now I think we owe this place a few hours."

"It's where… dead Pokémon are commemorated, right?" Terra said softly.

"I have an account there," Saylee said quietly. "There's a headstone there with all of their names on it. Sean, Bob, Gimli… everyone that died in Eterna… they're all there."

"Then we owe them our time," Caelin said, nodding to Sally, who began to pad towards Sinnoh's imposing tower of the dead. "That is the very least that we owe them all."

They approached the looming tower in silence. The exterior was smooth, unblemished stone, as if the whole tower had been hewn out of a single rock, but inside was surprisingly brightly lit and elaborately decorated. It was also extremely busy, with dozens of people and Pokémon walking back and forth along the rows of graves, but everyone maintained a reverent hush.

"It's nicer in here than Lavender Tower," Saylee commented quietly, looking around the sculptures on the walls. They were all Pokémon that had been dead for thousands of years; when the tower had first been established, according to the placard at the entrance, it had been exclusively for the strongest Pokémon of the mightiest trainers, and every one of them had had a statue of themselves carved. Over the centuries, the tower had steadily become the main cemetery for every Pokémon in Sinnoh. Even wild Pokémon often brought their dead to the tower to be cremated and to have their name added to the lists of the dead.

Every Pokémon still had their own image, but they weren't carved in stone any more. Technology had marched on, and when Saylee tapped Leo's name on the list of the dead, a hologram of him appeared, a smiling 3D image formed from pictures of him that she'd taken and stored data on Luxio. Sally gave the hologram an affectionate lick, looking immensely saddened when her tongue went through, the image as incorporeal as a ghost. Saylee wasn't sure if the images were a kindness or a cruelty.

"Does Lavender Tower have these?" Key asked, smiling sadly at a tiny holo image of Basma.

Saylee shook her head. "Lavender Tower is almost entirely run by a clan of Marowak, though," she explained. "There are a few humans who work there, but by and large the Marowak don't trust humans to properly care for the dead. Or any Pokémon aside from Cubone and Marowak, although the current clan leader's mate is a Hitmonchan."

"You know them well, do you?" Ephraim asked, curiously watching the various images of Pokémon that he had never met.

"I should hope so, I trained them," Saylee said, running her finger down the list and watching the faces flash by. "I wish I had something to leave here for our dead…"

"Our vow of vengeance shall have to do," Caelin growled. "We will explore the tower further. We would appreciate the company of Terra, Belle and Gareth."

"Of course, my lady," Terra said, trotting loyally after her.

"Of course, _ma belle princesse_ ," Belle said, following close behind. Gareth went with her, scuttling along on his tiptoes. "You know, Gareth, I think you and I ought to do a show sometime. I have a much better tonal range now that I have a full throat…"

"It's funny how this place is a grave tower, but it still smells better than that ruined tower," Sally said, sniffing the ground. "On that note, where is Raiden?"

"He's been hiding in his doll," Key said, taking the figure out of her pocket. "He doesn't like it here."

"It makes Rai all shivery and cold," Raiden beeped, scuttling back into Key's pocket. "Don't like. Want to go."

"Sorry, Raiden, but we promised to spend some time here," Saylee said, watching Zoe flutter around an image of Zoran. Compared to the Crobat, he was tiny, small enough for a single one of her wings to wrap around. "Places like this always make me really think about what I'm doing, what I'm trying to achieve, what my priorities need to be…" She glanced at Key. "Sorry, Key. You came here to look for Archie, but we've kinda gotten sidetracked… story of my life."

"Don't worry about it," Key sighed. "We're still on the idiot's trail. Sooner or later, I'm sure we'll catch up. Besides, dealing with Galactic is _important_. They've killed a lot of people and Pokémon, and if you're right they're a danger to gods and avatars… like Archie." She frowned. "Do you think what Fantina said is true? Do you think he'd really join Galactic? "

"Well, it's not like he has a history of making good life choices," Saylee pointed out. "And it would explain the second man with him that Fantina saw. I mean, it couldn't be anyone in Aqua, right? Didn't you check with the Hoenn police about that?"

"Got an email back from them this morning, yeah," Key said, opening up her Pokenav. "Matt's definitely in police custody. There's a few Aqua members still at large, but the police and rangers are on the trail of most of them and none of them have made for Sinnoh, probably because Archie did. I don't think Marc or Kalle would travel with him…"

"I'd maybe suspect it if there were two of them, but I don't think either would go off alone with him, no," Saylee said with a shrug. "I'd expect that after hiding out in a submarine together, they'd want to be as far away from each other as possible. But I don't think we can rule it out, especially since the initial sighting DID feature a second person with a flying-type… could've been a Crobat. But it could also be a Galactic member, either a working partner or possibly some sort of chaperone… might be a guard, if he didn't join willingly. I suppose any which way, we should expect to have to fight them too… who else could it be?"

"I dunno… new boyfriend? Maybe he eloped," Key suggested with a giggle. Saylee rolled her eyes with a snort. "Hey, maybe that's why Blue hasn't been calling! He's left you for a wanted criminal!"

"Nahhh, bulky guys are _not_ Blue's type," Saylee chuckled. "I'm sure Mum will call me right away if she runs into him. He came to the wedding with me, but that doesn't mean he knows his way around the country any better than I do…" She sighed. "It'd be nice if he _has_ come looking in Sinnoh. I don't think he'd spend _this_ long wandering around Hoenn looking for me without checking in at home, so maybe he has heard that I came here. I hope nobody told him I went to Kalos or anything…"

"Y'know, most people would get worried if their boyfriend didn't call them for a month," Key pointed out. "It's sweet and all, but you're not worried a _little_ that he's run off with someone else and that's why he hasn't called?"

"Nope," Saylee said breezily. "One, the idiot loses his phone regularly and forgets it when he even has it. Two, he doesn't like people at the best of times. It takes him a _long_ time to warm up to a person and he's a pretty huge jerk up until then, which segues into Three, a lot of people don't like him all that much because he's a jerk and also has intimidatingly powerful Pokemon that he likes to throw around. I occasionally try to socialize him but you know how it is, after a certain age they're difficult to train. And four… he happens to live near to a very large and powerful Charizard-patriarch who is a very good friend of mine, and he has good self-preservation instincts."

"You're a scary lady," Buddy commented.

Saylee laughed, quickly stifling the sound behind her hand when an elderly woman glared at her. "But honestly, the thought's never entered my head," she said with a little smile. "We're used to being out of contact for long whiles… doesn't mean we'll love each other any less when we see each other again, and while I admit both of us are prone to bouts of dumb anger, it doesn't mean either of us are going to throw away everything we've built together on a whim of passion. Life's difficult enough without throwing away a good, steady thing so easily."

"This is going from sweet to incredibly boringly pragmatic," Key groaned. "Didn't you ever long for a storybook romance?"

"I didn't exactly get to read a lot of storybooks until _after_ Blue and I started living together," Saylee pointed out with a little grin. "My cousin often complains that I have no romance in my soul, too. But neither does Blue, which is one of the reasons we work. Honestly, I don't think either of us could ever take that kind of thing seriously…"

"You're not meant to take it _seriously_ , you're meant to make overdramatic romantic gestures and then cover how embarrassed you are by giggling and kissing a lot," Key declared. "First piece of dating advice my mom ever gave me. Don't date somebody who can't make you laugh." She patted Saylee on the shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Lee. You're a good friend, but you're just too boring for me."

"I am sincerely heartbroken," Saylee replied solemnly, glancing at the old lady who was continuing to glare at them. "...We should probably get back to silent contemplation of those we've lost. That's what we came here for, after all."

"You're right," Key said, trailing her fingers down the list of names. "I'm sorry," she whispered to them. "We don't mean to disrespect your loss. But… you were all so kind, so cheerful, so spirited, so funny… would it really be disrespect to be cheerful instead of solemn and without spirit?"

"It wouldn't," Saylee whispered, "but I think it's annoying the living patrons."

"Ah. That's fair."

{ _Jinua 24_ _th_ _, 7:15 pm_ }

{ _Solaceon Town}_

"Well, ain't this somethin'? Three whole guests tonight!" the innkeeper said happily, writing their names down in a ledger behind the desk. He was a big, beefy man with a huge blond moustache and a large beige hat. Solaceon's town uniform seemed to be various patterns of plaid shirts under overalls, although given that pretty much the entire town worked in Sinnoh's biggest greenhouses, hidden in the trees near the town, it probably was an actual uniform. If three guests were worth getting worked up about, running the inn probably wasn't his only job.

"I guess there's not a lot of foot traffic through here, huh?" Key said, glancing out of the window to the biodomed ranch where all of their Pokémon were relaxing in their preferred climes with the ranchers' Pokémon.

"Mostly folks lookin' to visit the tower, but when the 'ports were up ain't none of 'em stayin' the night," the innkeeper said, shaking his head. "Just comin' fer lunch, maybe dinner. Gettin' a little more now the 'porters are down, though. I'm sure glad the item 'porters are up, at least. Ain't no use growin' all the food we do if'n it ain't goin' nowheres!"

"Here's your room keys," his daughter, a blonde teenager in pigtails, giggled. "Dinner's on in a minute. Daddy, can I serve the guests dinner?"

"Shoulda known the only time you'd _want_ to help is when there's a foreign pretty-boy in town," her father grumbled. "Your rooms are up the stairs, on the left, if'n you want to leave your stuff there. Dinin' room's just through there." He pointed at the double doors that his daughter was going through. "Damn pretty boys…"

"You look interested in the foreign pretty-boy yourself," Key giggled as they rushed upstairs to leave their bags.

"Okay, I am a _little_ worried about Blue, and it _could_ be him," Saylee pointed out. "He _could_ get this badly lost. What about you? It could be Archie or his mysterious good-looking companion, you know."

"You make a valid point," Key said, opening her door, throwing her coat and bag inside, and then taking a moment to adjust her Beautifly hairpin in the hall mirror. "Okay, good to go."

The man sitting at the huge polished-wood dining table had their back to them, but they could tell at a glance that he wasn't Archie or Blue. He was too slim to be Archie and too tall to be Blue, and his hair was the wrong colour. He was, however, definitely somebody that they knew.

"Steven!" Saylee said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Sar… Champion," Steven said, turning to face them with a smile and a twinkle in his silver eyes. "Good to see you again."

{}

{}

 _I hope everyone who celebrated Christmas had a Merry one, or at the very least a chill one without too much familial drama/financial stress. I had a pretty good one made of secondhand Star Wars merch from the family and some fabulous Discworld goodies from the fabulous Key-chan, my personal favourite item being the decorative "Freedom, Truth, Justice and Reasonably Priced Love" Hard-Boiled Egg 3 (There was also the twelve hours of family Christmas dinner, which made it to "decent" ranking solely because my aunt brought her new grandchildren; my cousin's two puppies that she's dogsitting while he's out of the country. They are precious Cocker Spaniel babies who were content to sit on my lap for hours to be petted as an alternative to drinking way too much wine, which is my usual strategy.) I also have a job interview tomorrow with a company that places English teachers across Japan, so wish me luck!_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Cara. Species: Chansey. Nature: Quirky. Ability: Natural Cure._

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Ghada. Species: Goldeen. Nature: Lonely. Ability: Water Veil. Location: Route 209_

 _Name: Gwandoya. Species: Gastly. Nature: Timid. Ability: Levitate. Location: Hallowed Tower._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Crobat, Belle the Roselia, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Kirlia_


	19. Chapter 18

_Saylee—Pokémon: 15 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

{ _Jinua 24_ _th_ _, 8:26 pm}_

 _{Solaceon Town}_

After dinner and small talk, Saylee and Key went back to Steven's room; it was impossible to talk about anything important with the innkeeper's daughter constantly rushing in and out to ask if they wanted drink refills or seconds. She had looked distinctly unhappy with how apparently friendly the three were and the way they left the table together.

The rooms were comfortable, all log furniture and layers of quilts. The three of them sat in front of the small fireplace, where Steven opened up his Pokénav and projected up several photographs of what looked like the interior of the Ruins of Alph. "Have you seen the tunnels in the caves to the east of town?" he asked.

"What are these?" Key asked, staring at the photo of some Unown carved into a wall. "Are these in those tunnels?"

"They're Unown," Saylee said, sifting through the photos.

Steven nodded. "They're very similar in design to the Ruins of Alph, as I'm sure you've noticed," he said. "They're of a comparable age, too. As you may have noticed from the Hallowed Tower and Lost Tower, this place has been a hotbed of spiritual activity for millennia. I've been investigating the Solaceon Ruins, just in case…" He trailed off with a frown.

"In case Galactic are interested in them?" Saylee suggested. "If they were at the Ruins of Alph…"

"Professor Hawkshaw was a genius, and her loss is a tragedy," Steven sighed, shaking his head sadly. "Whatever Galactic may have stolen from her cannot bode well for the rest of us. The tunnels here interest me anyway, because they're unmappable, but if Galactic Corp come looking around them… though from what I've seen on the news, they've been busy elsewhere," he added, giving Saylee and Key a sympathetic look. "If I were you two, I'd be inherently distrustful of anyone in any sort of uniform by now."

"Tell me about it," Saylee groaned. "Well, right now we're part of a 'retinue', anyway. Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet. She currently has two goals in life; overthrowing her brother to be Fire Lord, and ripping out Jupiter's throat with her bare hands."

"As I understand it, there's quite a queue for that," Steven said, raising an eyebrow. "Most of the Rangers of Sinnoh, for a start."

"Galactic have been taking an interest in legendary Pokémon, haven't they?" Key asked, going through more of the Unown photos. "That Cyrus guy was at Lake Acuity and the statue in Eterna City…"

"Are any legendaries associated with the ruins here?" Saylee asked Steven.

"None," he said, shaking his head, "only Unown, although they're said to be connected to all legendaries… some refer to them as the enigmatic assistants of Arceus himself."

"If Galactic goes after _Arceus_ , we're all screwed," Key declared.

"Assuming they could catch it," Saylee said, rolling her eyes. "So far, the only Pokémon they've gotten are ones they've stolen from frightened children and dead rangers…" She frowned thoughtfully. "Back up. What did you mean when you say that the tunnels are unmappable?"

"Their configuration is different every time you step inside, and no human knows why," Steven said with a smile. "It's an observed and documented fact that the layout is constantly shifting and changing-somebody goes through a door, and if somebody follows even a second later, they find themself in a different room. Scientific equipment goes haywire, and so do the senses of psychics. Pokemon flat-out refuse to speak about the tunnels, claiming that they belong to the Unown. I assume the Unown know what they've done with the tunnels, although they're not telling. Interesting, isn't it? There's no telling where they could go. For the most part, entering the tunnels is extremely restricted, to prevent the unwary from wandering in and being lost..."

"I find that worrying," Saylee said with a shiver. "Sounds like another dimension or something… I _hate_ those."

"There's no denying you have reason to," Steven said sympathetically. "Although I can assure you that the distortions in the tunnels here are much more… natural, for lack of a better term… than the Cinnabar distortion."

"I kinda wanna know, but I also kinda don't," Key said, looking from Steven to Saylee. "Do I ask?"

"No," Saylee said with a shudder. "You don't want to know. Trust me. And I cannot tell you how happy I am that _that's_ gone and Galactic can't 'take an interest' in it." She looked at Steven. "Do you know much about Galactic?"

"Galactic Energy Corp was a minor energy production company for a long time before it was passed on to Cyrus Akagi five years ago," Steven said, pressing his hands together and staring at them thoughtfully. "He reformed it as a research foundation and expanded it rapidly. They've repeatedly made proposals to study the energy involved in Pokémon growth and evolution, but most of their proposed experiments have been deemed unethical and banned. I understand that they've sourced significant private funding, but the funders' names have not been publicly disclosed. They did get into a very public row with Professor Rowan about two years ago. They kept trying to hire him, he kept telling them to shove off. Nevertheless, they've managed to grow quite rich and powerful. They no longer trade internationally, though, so I'm not familiar with them beyond what's made the business news. Cyrus Akagi is awfully young for a CEO, but he did inherit the corporation from his parents after they died in an accident. He's only twenty-seven, making him twenty-two when he inherited the company."

"Isn't that about your age?" Saylee pointed out.

"Are you saying I'm not young?" Steven pouted.

"Wait wait wait," Key interrupted. "Cyrus, the dude who looks like he's been frowning for fifty years… he's only twenty-seven?"

"That's clearly been long enough for him to build up a dangerous level of callousness," Saylee said with a shudder. "We've run into him a couple of times. He's both dangerously delusional and just plain dangerous."

"I'll keep an eye out for him," Steven promised. "So, how is the hunt for Archibald Irving and the Hylands going?"

"It's… going," Key sighed. "No sign of the Hylands, but we're on Archie's trail. Although it's hard to catch up when we keep getting into fights with Galactic…"

"Well, with Galactic Corp around, I suppose Archie Irving and Marc Hyland are hardly the worst of our troubles," Steven said with a shrug. "Their supporters have dispersed entirely quietly. Well, except for a few Aqua grunts that were found tied in up an abandoned base… there was a note next to them explaining how they were directly responsible for murdering Pokémon."

"Really, now…" Saylee said with a sad little smile. Then she frowned. "Though we've also heard a rumour that Archie's in Galactic now."

Steven blinked at her for a long moment, wide-eyed. "I can't say I'd heard that one," he murmured. "It may of course be only a rumour. I hope so, because if that were true, that _would_ be bad."

"It would," Saylee agreed, taking a deep breath. _Does he_ know _just_ how _bad…?_ "…Hey, Steven? Can I ask you something? Have you ever heard of avatars?"

"Some Johton myth, isn't it?" Steven said, black eyes staring thoughtfully into the fire. "Humans and gods mixing? The church in Hearthome has a belief that god is neither a human nor a Pokémon, but a single ultimate being beyond both. I mean, God Pokémon do exist, we know this, so it's not so much a matter of faith as a question of just how powerful they are… after all, look at Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. They're definitely far more powerful than regular Pokémon, but is that simply because they're older? That was one of the things that Professor Hawkshaw was investigating. I wonder if Galactic believe in it…" He frowned.

After a moment of staring, Saylee figured that his eyes were dark brown, not black. _Or maybe they were black and they've just shifted to brown? I_ know _they were silver when we came in here…_

"They have been trying to investigate the growth and evolutionary energy of Pokémon," Steven mused. "How much would be unleashed by a god Pokémon…?"

"How much indeed," Saylee said, watching closely as his eyes turned black again. _He always says it's a trick of the light, but that's not it. What is he? He claims he's not an avatar, but…_ "Can you call me if Galactic turn up here? I'd be interested to know what they want. Not that I don't think you can handle them…"

"I will most definitely deal with them if they try anything against the tunnels or the people here," Steven promised. "Then again, maybe I should let them just go into the tunnels…" He smirked darkly. "It's been said that every thief that has tried to go into the tunnels in the hope of stealing ancient artefacts has never found their way out… the tunnels maze them to their deaths and only spit out the corpses once they've rotted to bones. This is actually a documented phenomenon. Most of the skeletons are in a museum in Hearthome, I believe."

"To bad we have to go straight on to Veilstone and don't have time to visit, huh?" Key said, glancing at Saylee, who nodded vigorously.

"Yeah… too bad," the brunette said quickly.

Steven laughed. "Maybe that'll change soon too, though," he mused thoughtfully. "After all, the domes in Hoenn have just coughed up the people lost to them for the first time _ever_. Everything's been changing ever since the end of the Kanto Civil War. How many other ancient secrets might soon come to light?"

"Is that why you're here, instead of helping with the restoring of Hoenn?" Saylee asked pointedly. "Ancient secrets?"

"Yes, I know modern secrets are rather more your concern," Steven said with a smile, "but Galactic seem very interested in the ancient sort, don't they? I am, too. Always have been."

"Do you know _why_ Galactic keep poking around ancient ruins?" Key asked, pointing at the pictures of the Unown.

"I have suspicions, but… well, I've been told my theories can get pretty wild," Steven said with a smirk.

"I can buy a lot of strange," Saylee pressed.

"I'd rather not muddy the waters," Steven said, shaking his head. He switched off his Pokénav. "If all goes well, we won't have to see what Galactic's planning anyway, will we?"

Saylee hissed in frustration and grabbed Steven's wrist. "Would it kill you to give us a straight answer?" she snapped. She took a deep breath, then looked Steven right in the eye. It took a lot of self-control not to leap back with a yelp as she noticed that his irises had _vanished_ ; small, dark pupils were all that was looking back at her. After a moment, she _saw_ brown irises bloom again. _That's not a trick of the light_ , she told herself. _That's real, I_ saw _it, and it's_ not normal. "Miscommunication kills, as we saw very well in Hoenn," she said softly. "Are you _sure_ you can't tell us what's going on?"

"We're good at keeping secrets," Key added.

Steven looked from Saylee to Key, smiling slightly. "I really wish I could," he murmured. "In fact, the day is coming soon when I can tell you everything, and not just you. I'm very excited about it, truth be told, just as much as I'm frightened of it. But _not yet,_ and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry that I can't even tell you why I can't tell you why. I know that asking you to trust me while I'm being so vague is a rather tall order, but for what it's worth, I _do_ trust both of you." He stood up, pulling his wrist out of Saylee's grasp. "And now it's getting rather late, and I think you should both return to your rooms," he added. "This is a small and gossipy town, and in any case if you're heading north tomorrow, you've got a lot of uphill to climb and you'll want to be well-rested, won't you?"

"Well, that's clear as mud," Key complained. "You trust us, and that's why you can't tell us your secrets?"

"Not yet," Steven said softly, walking over to the door and opening it, bowing them out. "Goodnight, ladies. Safe hiking tomorrow."

{ _Jinua 25_ _th_ _, 6:21 pm_ }

{ _Route 210}_

"There… it… is…" Saylee panted, pointing as they reached the top of the sub-peak that they were climbing. They'd covered two so far, an arduous trek that had taken the whole day.

"That's… the Café Cabin?" Sally huffed, climbing up onto the rocks next to her trainer. The Cabin was perched against the side of the next sub-peak. Against the huge mountain, the cabin looked small and squat, but according to Steven it was a luxurious three-story hotel that was normally populated by mountain climbers and sightseers teleporting in for the day to view the stunning vistas visible from the mountainside and eat in the famous café. With the teleporters down, however, it would be close to empty.

"Not far to go now," Belle said, giving Sally an encouraging pat behind the ear. Sally was growing much larger, almost large enough to be a Luxray, and was strong enough to carry Caelin, Belle, Terra and Gareth all at once. Ephraim trotted along besides her, flirting politely with Belle, Terra and Sally in turn, while Zoe flew overhead. Buddy had taken to riding on the sizeable Crobat's back; the squat little Bidoof enjoyed seeing everything from the air.

"After a day like this…" Key sighed as they carefully began the steep descent over the sub-peak to where they could begin climbing up to the café, "I can't wait to try that famous café."

"I know… at least it's a downhill descent from here to Veilstone," Saylee puffed, pointing towards the fog-shrouded valley to the east. "There's a town further up the mountain, I think, but it's not where we're going."

"Of course not," Sally huffed. She jumped aside as a Ponyta leapt out of nowhere, trying to stomp her. "Oi!"

"Raiden's got it!" Raiden said, zapping out of his doll and electrocuting the Ponyta, which screeched and fled. "Yay! Rai got it!"

"Well done, Raiden," Key said, giving his doll a hug when he returned to it. "The Pokémon around here sure are territorial…"

"More like… restless," Saylee said, watching the Ponyta run. "She seemed pissed off about something…."

"Sar!" Zoe called, swooping down. "I can sense something… odd up ahead. There's some kind of… signal… I can't make it out, but…"

"There's lots of Psyduck, yup," Buddy added. "Lots and lots. They don't look happy."

"Psyduck, you said?" Caelin said sharply. She looked back at Saylee. "Sar, Patricia and Philon, were they not…"

"They were hearing a signal that put them in pain, yeah," Saylee said with a frown. "Zoe, you didn't hear anything when they were with us, but…"

"I was a Zubat then," Zoe said, flicking her purple ears. "I have much better ears now."

"Will we investigate?" Terra asked, looking to the Princess.

"We must," the Monferno said with a nod. "On behalf of Philon and Patricia, we _must_ know what is happening to the Psyduck… and on behalf of Bob, who died because of it."

Saylee nodded. "Where are they?" she asked Zoe.

"There's a pass through the mountains just behind the cabin," Zoe explained. "It's full of Psyduck."

"We'll check into the cabin first," Saylee said, rubbing her aching chest. "It's been… a while since we met Patricia and Philon. They might have been huddled up there for a long while. We'll see what those in the cabin have to say about it."

{ _Jinua 25_ _th_ _, 6:45pm_ }

{ _Café Cabin, Route 210}_

"Yes, they've been there for _weeks_ ," the waitress sighed, fidgeting with her notepad as she hovered by Saylee and Key's table. "They absolutely refuse to move. They claim that when they leave the pass, they're in terrible pain… We tried forcibly removing one, and he had a horrible psychic headache that knocked out both of the waiters trying to carry him. We've been taking them food and water, but that seems to be all that we can do, since we were ordered to stop trying to move them… I'm afraid that road is completely blocked."

"Oh… too bad," Saylee said with a frown. "Can I get the penne a la arabiatta, please?"

"Burrito for me," Key said handing back her menu. The waitress nodded and hurried off. "So, what do you think?"

"Part of me really wants to check it out…" Saylee admitted, "but to be honest, I'm not sure what this or what we'd do about it. Zoe seems to be hearing a signal, suggesting that it's a radio signal targeted to Psyduck, but I don't know how you'd shield that particular area from it, when it could even reach the Psyduck deep underground in Oreburgh… It could be a psychic signal, but Gareth didn't sense anything, did he?"

"Nope," Key said, shaking her head. "Besides, if the road's blocked, there's no way Archie's gone that way, is there?"

"The only other way up would be through the Underground, and he couldn't take that," Saylee agreed. "They're full of security cameras. He'd be caught in a cold second if he went on them. He might be dumb, but he's clearly not _that_ dumb, since he hasn't been caught yet. If he did go this way, like Fantina thought, then he'll have gone east from here to Veilstone."

"Right… thanks!" Key said with a happy grin as the waitress brought their food. "This looks great!"

"Thank you," the waitress said politely. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, thank you," Saylee said, picking up her fork.

"Just press the green button on the side of the table if you need anything, then," the waitress said, bowing and retreating, "and have a good meal!"

"Definitely," Key said, grabbing her burrito. "Delicious dinner, then take a little look?"

"I don't see why not," Saylee said, spearing some penne. "Maybe it'll make more sense when we see it."

{ _JInua 25_ _th_ _, 7:52 pm_ }

{ _Route 210}_

"This makes no sense whatsoever," Saylee said, climbing down from the rock wall with a nonplussed expression and a wince of pain.

The pass was a deep crevice split into the side of the mountain. The sides were so steep that she hadn't been able to go far in an attempt to go around the Psyduck, and the Psyduck steadfastly refused to budge from their tight huddle in the pass. There was a distinct line at the edge of the pass which the Psyduck would not cross over.

"Are you all eating alright?" Key asked one of the Psyduck with concern.

"The humans at the cabin bring food," the plump yellow psychic said. "Good of them, isn't it? We'd like to go fetch it ourselves, but…" She shook her head. "Obviously, we can't leave here."

"And why would that be?" Caelin asked.

"Are you all deaf? Can't you hear it?" another Psyduck said irritably. "No, we're staying right here where we can't hear that racket, _thank_ you very much."

"I can't see any sort of transmitter," Saylee muttered to Key. "Zoe, Puck and Tashigi flew on ahead, but they couldn't see anything either. I can't see what's causing this or what's going on."

"I'm trying, but I really can't sense any psychic signals that aren't being produced by the Psyduck," Gareth said, curtseying apologetically.

"It's okay, Gareth, thanks for trying," Key said. Tashigi, Puck and Zoe flew back down to them, shaking their heads. "So what now?"

"Has this happened before?" Caelin asked one of the Psyduck.

"Well, no," one of them admitted. "It's odd, but there's nothing we can do about it from here, is there?"

"There doesn't seem to be anything that we can do about it, either," Saylee sighed. "I don't really like it, but… well, they don't seem to be in any discomfort here, so…"

"We will leave them here and make our inquiries," Caelin declared. "Are you content here, all of you?"

"Oh, yes," the Psyduck said, nodding to each other. "We aren't wanting for food and we don't have to hear that awful noise. We're content."

"Then we will depart and continue to pursue Prince and his kidnapper," Caelin declared. "Come, it is getting dark, and I am sure you are all getting cold."

"I'm surprised you know what cold is, m'lady," Puck giggled.

"We have heard of it," Caelin said, turning and walking back down the path to the café. "We may not fully understand the concept, but still, it is necessary for us to keep the needs of all of our subjects in mind. We shall train, then sleep."

"Yes, ma'am," the rest of them chorused, following her down, throwing unsettled looks back at the huddled Psyduck.

{}

{}

 _Happy New Year, everybody! I hope that 2016 is good to you all. Let's celebrate with Steven being annoyingly enigmatic instead of death \o/_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: E. Species: Unown. Nature: Mild. Ability: Levitate. Location: Solaceon Ruins._

 _Name: Penelope. Species: Ponyta. Nature: Docile. Ability: Run Away. Location: Route 210 (south)_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxio, Zoe the Crobat, Belle the Roselia, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Kirlia_


	20. Chapter 19

_Saylee—Pokémon: 17 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

{ _Jinua 26_ _th_ _, 8:38 am}_

 _{Café Cabin, Route 210}_

Saylee got a phone call from her stepfather at breakfast the next morning, which, going by the view out their window, had come with a light dusting of snow. Even the weak morning sunlight was enough to melt it, but it was clearly a precursor of full winter hitting Sinnoh.

" _Good morning, Saylee!_ " Byron boomed over the phone. " _I just got in and saw that you called. Sorry about the delay._ "

"Don't worry about it, thanks for calling back," Saylee said, going through the ritual of mouthing " _sorry_ " to Key while the blonde made the traditional " _it's fine_ " face and gestures. "Do you have one?"

" _It's your lucky day! We found some in the last seam!_ " Byron said. " _Where are you now? I can have a Kadabra courier bring it to you. Normal 'porters don't send 'em, you know."_

"We're at the Café Cabin, north of Solaceon," Saylee explained. "Oh, tell them to charge it. I'll pay for it."

"No you won't, it's for my Pokémon," Key insisted, leaning over the table. "Well, they're all basically Caelin's, but I carry his pokéball."

" _Don't worry about it! I already paid,_ " Byron laughed. " _It's cheaper if you pay upfront, anyway. Café Cabin, huh? Jo and I stayed there a couple nights on our honeymoon. I hope you got the pancakes for breakfast!_ "

"I did, and I do believe that it's the single best decision I have ever made," Saylee said, sniffing the half-eaten heap of syrupy pancakes appreciatively. A waiter came in to tell them that there was a package for them, and Key went off with him to retrieve it. "Thanks so much, Ron!"

" _Not a problem! So where are you girls off to next_?"

"Veilstone… we're following a lead on Archibald Irving," Saylee said, grabbing a bite of her pancakes.

" _Ah, you'll have to go down through the valley, won't you? Be very careful. It's always pretty foggy down there, and in this weather it'll be extremely icy. Hey, is it snowing there yet?_ "

"Just a little," Saylee said as Key trotted back to the table, clutching a shining blue-green stone. The Champion grinned at Saylee and gave her a thumbs-up. "Ah, good, the Dawn Stone's here safe!"

" _Great! Well, keep an eye on the weather. The snow's really coming down here, so I'm sure it'll be hitting you harder soon. Be careful with your boys too, eh?_ "

"Sure," Saylee said. "Thanks again, Ron. Bye!" She hung up and dug back into her cooling pancakes.

"I can't wait to show Gareth! He _so_ wants to be a Gallade," Key said happily, turning the stone over in her hands and running a thumb over its smooth surface.

"Yeah… hey," Saylee said with a frown. "What did Byron mean, ' _boys_ '?"

"What about them?" Key asked, finishing her waffles.

"Fantina said Archie was travelling with another guy… how did Byron know?" Saylee asked thoughtfully. "She didn't know he was Archie, so it isn't like she'd alert other leaders... has Byron seen—?"

"Lee! Key!" Puck called, flying in. "Come look! Lee! Key! You gotta come look!"

"What is it?" Saylee asked, getting to her feet and running after the excited Togetic. As they went out of the door and into the lobby, however, something huge and black leapt at Puck and swallowed him whole.

"PUCK!" Saylee yelled. The one-eyed Luxray turned, showing that Puck's head was dangling out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Puck yelped. "Please don't eat me!"

Sally spat him out, sending him rolling damply across the ground. "Then don't steal my food," she growled. Her voice had gotten abruptly deeper with her larger physique. She was large enough to carry Saylee and Key, and more intimidating than ever.

"You're a Luxray? Congratulations, Sally!" Saylee gasped, hugging the large electric-type around the head and scratching her behind the ears. "You look amazing, but please don't eat Puck again."

"You look so cool!" Key agreed.

"Thanks!" Sally said proudly. "I've got some cool new powers. Check this out." She blinked, and the red of her sclera and yellow of her pupil switched.

"What's up with your eye?" Key asked curiously.

"I can see through walls!" Sally said excitedly. "I saw _this_ little pest flying in to talk to you guys." She batted a paw at Puck, who was rapidly fluttering his wings to shake off Luxray-spit. "Cool, right?"

"Really cool," Saylee agreed. "Well into badass territory, Sally. Between you and Zoe, scoping out buildings'll be easy."

"Yeah… oh, I dunno if everyone knows I've evolved, I just went tearing off after Puck!" Sally said, loping off towards the Pokémon dining room. Caelin's retinue were the only Pokémon presently at the lodge, so they had the place to themselves—which was a blessing, given that Merida needed almost the entire of the indoor pool to herself anyway.

"Sally!" Caelin gasped as the huge Luxray padded into the room and curled up next to her breakfast. "You evolved! That's wonderful!"

"Wow, look at _you_ , girl!" Ephraim said in surprise. "I like what you've done with your fur."

"You are a most intimidating creature now, _non_?" Belle said, peering up at Sally, who even sitting down towered over her. "Galactic will flee in fear before you!"

"Good," Sally said, smiling, or at least showing her unsettlingly large teeth. "It's more fun to chase the bastards."

"Congratulations, Sally," Terra said warmly. "Lady Key, what is that you are holding?"

Key glanced down at the Dawn Stone. "Oh, yeah!" she said. "Gareth! Guess what Saylee's stepdad found!"

"A Dawn Stone?" Gareth said excitedly, leaping to his feet and over towards Key.

"A Dawn Stone," Key said, holding it out with a nod and a grin. Gareth stared at the stone in awe for a long moment before gingerly reaching out and touching it.

The reaction was instantaneous. Both Gareth and the stone began to glow brightly. Gareth's height shot up as his body changed shape, becoming thicker than a Gardevoir's, with strong legs and sharp forearms with blades that extended past his elbows. The light died as he spun, first performing a spinning kick and then a smooth slash that seemed to split the very air in two.

"How do I look?" he asked, his voice also now deeper and stronger.

" _Très bien,_ Gareth," Belle said, tapping her thorn sword against his elbow blade. "Very nice _indeed_. Aren't you just a big hunk of warrior now?"

"You are most definitely welcome to join me at the badass table," Sally declared.

"You were not exaggerating when you said that Gallade are among the finest warriors in the land," Caelin said, standing up to examine her new bodyguard. "We feel much safer already."

"How about we train for a bit to try out you guys' new powers, then head east?" Key suggested. "Let's see what you can do!"

{ _Jinua 26_ _th_ _, 2:46 pm_ }

{ _Route 215}_

"You timed your evolution perfectly," Saylee commented, clinging to Sally's fur as the Luxray padded along the murky path to Veilstone. "Are you sure you can see fine with just one eye, though?"

"I'm fine," Sally assured her. "I don't really like having a blind spot to my left, though. Especially since that's the side the drop is on…" She kept turning her head to the left to check the ground around her feet.

"Drop?" Key asked nervously, turning left even though she couldn't see anything through the dense fog. "What drop? How big?"

"Don't worry about it, we're not going down it," Sally promised. Saylee and Key were clinging to Sally's sides, while Caelin and Terra rode on the Luxray's back. Gareth walked at Key's side, sensing his way through the fog. Zoe was scouting ahead, picking out the easiest route east through the mist-shrouded valley's maze of bridges and slopes.

Saylee kept her eye on Caelin's tail flame; the princess was sitting high on Sally's neck, so her tail didn't burn Saylee or Key, but Saylee still felt inclined to keep an eye on it. _Besides, I worry about it in this fog. I hope her tail doesn't get too damp._

"Milady, there are a couple of Marill on the road ahead," Zoe said, swooping down towards Caelin. "I think they're injured…"

"I see them," Sally said, leading her friends towards the two small blue Pokémon. They were indeed bleeding, in one case quite badly.

Gareth knelt down next to the injured water-types. "Are you okay?" he asked. "What happened?"

"Andre… Andre…" the smaller one sobbed repeatedly.

"It's okay, Ailie," the slightly larger one said soothingly. "We were attacked… we barely escaped," she said mournfully. "But they got my brother Andre… this is his mate Ailie. I'm Maya."

"Who attacked you?" Gareth asked.

"Humans with green fur and grey bodies…" Maya muttered. Sally instantly bristled, the mist around her snapping with electricity.

"They came to our lake… why were they in our lake?" Ailie sobbed. "Humans never come to our lake!"

"Trainers aren't allowed to catch from private habitats like that, but Galactic think they're above the law," Saylee said darkly. "Green hair and grey clothes… it has to be them. Bastards…"

"You said your names are Maya and Ailie?" Caelin said, leaning over Sally's neck. "Our name is Princess Caelin, of Mt Coronet. We are sworn to become Fire Lord of Coronet, and also to exact revenge upon Galactic for the deaths of eleven of our subjects." She tapped the bloody lines on her face. "We are always in search of allies to join our army and assist us in destroying Galactic."

"You want us to join your royal army?" Maya asked in surprise. "Well… we're not really fighters, either of us…"

"I'll learn to become one!" Ailie sniffed, clutching her wounds and staggering to her feet, scowling ferociously. "I'll become a soldier and get Andre back! I'll definitely join!"

"Well… if you're going, Ailie, so will I," Maya agreed, clutching her sister-in-law. "We can't let Galactic, whoever they are, get away with this." She looked up at Caelin and nodded. "Princess, we will join your army. How do we do so?"

"Our humans will capture you in pokéballs and send you to join the rest of my army," Caelin said. Saylee and Key jumped down from Sally's back and walked over to crouch in front of Maya and Ailie.

"Hey Maya, I'm Key," Key said, holding out a pokéball.

"I'm Saylee," Saylee added, holding hers out to Ailie. "You'll get healed at the other end, too."

"Good… thanks," Ailie said, tapping the pokéball and vanishing. Maya did the same a moment later.

"Galactic is poaching wild Pokémon now as well as just stealing them?" Key said, staring at the blood on the ground. "Do you think they have people in Veilstone?"

"At this stage, I'd be very surprised if they didn't," Saylee said with a frown. "We'll report their illegal poaching, but how much do you want to bet that nothing gets done about it?"

"Not by the police, but what about the rangers?" Key asked.

"I'll put in a call," Saylee sighed. "I need to ask what the news about those Psyduck is. There's no way they've been there two weeks and the rangers don't know about it."

{ _Jinua 27_ _th_ _, 10:59 am_ }

{ _Veilstone City}_

"Is this the ranger station?" Key said, raising an eyebrow as Saylee came out of the game corner. Caelin was waiting outside with a disapproving look.

"No," Saylee said sheepishly. "But some of these places can be pretty shady… There's a rumour that this place belongs to Galactic, but I couldn't find anything suspicious. This isn't the most suspicious place in town, though," she said darkly. "Galactic Energy Corp's Headquarters are here in Veilstone."

" _What,_ " Key said flatly, her eyes widening. "We _have_ to check that out!"

"I had a look, but the security here's _much_ better than in Eterna," Saylee said darkly. "There are alarmed laserlight fences all around the building, and I mean _all_ the way around-you couldn't even fly in. There are security cameras, too, guards on patrol 24/7, and according to the rangers, the police here come down _very_ hard on trespassers around Galactic HQ. Even arrested some teenagers hanging around and an inquisitive ranger."

"Are our people fully healed, Lady Key?" Caelin asked, gesturing to the pokeballs that Key was carrying. The blonde nodded, handing Saylee's back to her. "Perfect. Then now is an ideal time to attack-"

"Not until we know what we're walking into," Saylee said sharply. "We've lost too many Pokemon to Galactic surprises. And if possible, I don't want to walk in the front door where they're expecting us. I want to find another way into that building-and rumour is that there is one, in one of the warehouses to the north. There are dozens of them, though, and nobody has any clue which ones could belong to Galactic."

"Agh… that could take ages to check out," Key sighed, looking up the grey-paved streets of Veilstone. All of the buildings were heavy stone and building on platforms, similar to the setup in Jubilife that allowed buildings to be built on steep slopes.

"Perhaps Zoe and Sally could search them?" Terra suggested.

"Zoe could, but Sally's too large to be out in this city," Saylee said with a frown. She released her Crobat. "Zoe, can you go check out the warehouses to the north and make sure there's nothing… Galactic in them?"

"Tashigi, go with her and keep guard," Key said, releasing her Togetic.

"Sure thing," Zoe said, flying off with Tashigi.

"While they're doing that, we'll go to the gym," Saylee told Key. "We'll find out about Archie. The leader might also be able to tell us more about Galactic here than the police or rangers know."

"Who's the leader?" Key asked.

"According to some of the folk in there, it's a girl called Maylene," Saylee said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the game corner. "She's only about twelve, but apparently the previous leader stepped down after she finished her apprenticeship a few months ago."

"Why'd he step down if she's so young?" Key said in surprise. "I mean, even if she's a really good trainer, even if she's finished her apprenticeship, shouldn't he stay on until she's a little older?"

"Her dad's in the game corner," Saylee explained with a sigh. "According to the owners, he's in there all the time. He wastes tons of money. Maylene's been attending the gym, which is also a martial arts dojo, ever since she was about three, and she got her first black belt aged about seven. She's a prodigy, so she was always earmarked for leadership. The leader stepped down to give her the position because the pay for leaders is really, really good and it legally puts her in charge of her household as well. She covers her home's bills and food and stuff, and is working on paying off the worst of her father's debts. She's got a little sister that she looks after too, apparently."

"Wow…" Key said, eyebrows shooting up. "That's… I'm not sure if it's amazing or tragic."

"I know, but the League system and her dojo have given her a lot of support, which is great," Saylee said as they came up to the heavy stone dojo. A group of children in white clothes and variously-coloured belts were filing out and meeting their parents. "Looks like the gym should be free just now… perfect."

"Terra, I'll have to put you away so I can have Gareth out," Key said. The little Turtwig nodded placidly as she was returned and replaced with the tall Gallade.

"I'll have to return you too, Caelin," Saylee said. "I'm not a challenger, so I can't have any Pokémon out."

"Very well," Caelin agreed. "Be swift, Gareth. We would rather not waste time."

"I promise you, Princess, I will waste no time," Gareth promised, flexing his arms. "I have been waiting for a chance to try my new skills on worthy foes."

"Well, no time like the present," Key said brightly, pushing open the door of the gym.

{}

{}

 _This week hasn't been a great week; as well as being very ill for all of it, on Thursday we lost my Grandpa, who couldn't be bothered hanging around any longer without Grandma. He went quickly, painlessly and peacefully in his sleep after a very long struggle against multiple strokes and all the speech, mobility and health problems they left him with, so I'm sure he was relieved to wash his hands of the whole business and be with Grandma again. They were married for 61 years and had known each other for ten years before that, so it feels right for him to follow so closely after her. Rest in Peace, Grandpa Rob. Rest in Peace and happiness to you both._

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Ailie. Species: Marill. Nature: Hasty. Ability: Thick Fat. Location: Route 215._

 _ **Key**_

 _Name: Maya. Species: Marill. Nature: Mild. Ability: Thick Fat. Location: Route 215._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Belle the Roselia, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	21. Chapter 20

_Saylee—Pokémon: 17 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 27_ _th_ _, 11:36 am}_

 _{Hearthome Gym, Hearthome City}_

"Maylene!" Colby called, leading Saylee and Key up to the biggest ring in the gym. "We've got a tough one for ya!"

Saylee knew that Maylene was young, but she wasn't prepared for how _tiny_ the girl was. Maylene was short and skinny, with scrubby pink hair and only a cheap leotard and hand-me-down oversized joggers to wear. It was almost funny to see all of the large, burly black belts that Key and Gareth had swept through bowing deferentially to this tiny girl, but if game corner chat was to be believed Maylene was a more competent martial artist than all of them.

She had fire in her eyes, too. Despite her terrible family situation, she didn't look sad or pitiable to Saylee. She had taken control of a crappy situation and dominated it, and someone with strength like that didn't need something as condescending as pity. They commanded respect. _Key and Gareth better be ready, because I'll bet her Pokémon are much tougher than her disciples'…_

"Hello, I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Maylene, and I'm the Gym Leader," the girl introduced herself, holding out her hand for a handshake before changing her mind about leaving the leaders' side of the ring and bowing.

"I'm Key, and this is Gareth," Key said, nodding to her unscathed Gallade.

"I don't really know what it means to be strong, or how I got to be the Gym Leader," Maylene said, producing a pokéball. "But I will do the best I can as the Gym Leader. I take battling very seriously. Whenever you're ready!"

"Ready and waiting!" Gareth said, leaping into the battlefield. Maylene faced him with a Meditite.

Gareth fought well, taking down the Meditite and a Machoke easily, but Saylee felt increasingly uneasy. _Is it that?_ Saylee wondered as Maylene released her Lucario. _No… Lucario are powerful, but that's not why I feel… afraid…?_

She closed her eyes, listening hard. It was almost as if a distant voice was calling to her…

" _Help!"_

Saylee looked around quickly, but it was clear that nobody else had heard it the scream. Everyone else in the gym was watching Gareth and the Lucario's battle intently. The Lucario, however, kept shooting odd looks in Saylee's direction. _They can see auras,_ Saylee recalled. _Can she see something odd around me…?_

Gareth and the Lucario were fast-paced but evenly matched; Saylee couldn't pay close enough attention to figure out who had the upper hand, not with the sound of a vaguely familiar voice calling for help resounding in her ears. _Who_ is _that…?_

The battle was interrupted before it was over. A novice came running up onto the battlefield. "Maylene! Maylene!" he yelled. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's really urgent!"

"Hold!" Maylene called. Gareth and the Lucario stilled. "What's wrong?"

A girl came running onto the field after the novice. Saylee was startled to recognize Dawn.

"Galactic," Dawn gasped, looking wildly from Maylene to her disciples. "They—they stole—" She spotted Saylee and Key and ran to them, grabbing Saylee by the arm. "You're here! Great! Galactic don't stand a chance now!"

"So long as they don't blow anything up," Key muttered.

"Dawn, calm down and tell us," Saylee asked, her insides feeling like lead at the sight of the tears pouring down the girl's cheeks. "What did Galactic take?" _Oh no… that voice, it was… no, no,_ no…

"I… I took my pokédex out to look something up," Dawn babbled. "One of them grabbed it and ran—w-we chased them, but they led us behind th-the warehouse, a-and they grabbed Lou… they s-said they'd give him b-back for the Professor's research papers, only I d-didn't have them, so th-they asked for my P-P-Pokémon…" She started to cry. "Oh gods, I was so _dumb_ , but I thought when they gave Lou back, _his_ Pokémon would be… b-but they didn't give him back, th-they attacked me a-and dragged him into the w-warehouse…"

"Kidnapping and stealing?" Maylene's Lucario said, outraged. "This will not stand!"

"Everyone, heal up _now_ ," Maylene ordered, jerking her thumb over her shoulder at a healing machine on the edge of the ring. She returned her Lucario and handed her pokéball to one of the disciples who obediently flocked to the healing machine at the ringside. "And can somebody tell my top-level team to get ready to go? This is Galactic, so we can't rely on the police," she sighed to Saylee and Key, rolling her eyes.

"We've noticed," Saylee muttered. "We'll come too. Dawn, you should stay safe here…"

"Like hell!" Dawn sobbed angrily. "I'm coming to rescue my brother!"

"…Fair enough," Saylee allowed, releasing Belle, Caelin and Sally. Caelin and Belle leapt onto the powerful Luxray's back. "This is serious, guys. Galactic is kidnapping again."

"Foul _bande des connards_ ," Belle said, snapping out her thorn sword.

"We judge them guilty and sentence them to suffer," Caelin declared. "Where are they?"

"There's a Galactic Warehouse on Sumo and Fifth that we've been keeping an eye on ever since the place in Eterna exploded," Maylene said, running past. "I spotted a bunch of Galactic members going in when I was going for my dawn run the morning after, but when I tried to search it, the police threatened to arrest me and wouldn't issue me a warrant." She folded her arms for a moment, looking huffy, before smirking. "Chasing kidnappers, though, that's a different matter. I know the way. C'mon. Hey…" She paused, staring at Saylee and Key. "Wait… I _thought_ you guys looked familiar! Aren't you—?"

"Hoping nothing will explode this time, yeah," Key said, touching the faintly on her cheek where her dermatological surgery was still healing. "C'mon, Gareth, you feel up to more fighting?"

"You have to ask?" Gareth said, charging out of the gym with the rest of them.

{ _Jinua 27_ _th_ _, 12:00 pm}_

 _{Galactic Warehouse, Hearthome City}_

"I saw somebody inside, but I'm not sure who," Zoe reported, flying back down from the roof of the next warehouse. "There are two guys outside, though."

"I can't see anyone… too much stuff in the way," Sally growled, staring at the wall of the nearest warehouse and then blinking to return her vision to normal.

"Dawn, pokedexes all have GPS locators, just like trainer cards, right?" Saylee said, creeping down the alley between warehouses to where she could see the two door guards on the suspicious building. "You hang back and call the company. Ask for the location of your 'dex, and your brother's too if they'll give it."

"Okay," Dawn said, sliding out her poketch's keyboard and searching the number for the company. Maylene marched past her and up to the guards on gate, one of whom panicked at the sight of an angry twelve-year-old girl and released his two Zubat to attack her.

"Go, Gareth!" Key called. The Gallade charged after Sally and Caelin, attacking the Zubat while Maylene and her Lucario fell back.

"Take 'em down for assaulting a leader… uh, outside of a gym!" Maylene called.

"We will, you search the place!" Saylee responded, running after her Pokémon. Sally had already zapped down a Zubat and pinned its trainer.

"Hey—wait—you can't go in there!" the other grunt protested, grabbing the arm of a black belt's Machoke as it pushed past. The Machoke easily sent him sprawling.

"Kidnapping scum, release those you have imprisoned at once!" Caelin demanded, punching the lights out of a Stunky that one of the guards tried using on Sally. Belle cut down a Glameow at the same time.

"Dude, let's just get out of here!" one of the grunts called, flinging a smokebomb at Sally and running. "They already moved it to Pastoria!"

"Yeah!" the other one said, punching at Sally's scarred left eye when she was distracted by the smokebomb and running when she flinched back. "We'll just say 'you'll get yours' and run like the grunts we are!" The pair of them fled into the warehouse.

"Wait!" Caelin snarled, running up to check on Sally. "Sally…" She licked the blood trickling from some split in Sally's scar.

"I'm fine, it stings a little but I'm fine," Sally insisted, ducking her head. "Get on, Princess, and let's go!"

"Belle!" Caelin called, swinging onto Sally's back and reaching out to give the smaller Roselia a hand up. Saylee and Key caught up to them as they charged into the warehouse.

"Maylene and her disciples and Pokémon should be all over the place in there, they'll get them," Saylee said, stooping to check that the unconscious enemy Pokémon were still alive.

"I got through to the company," Dawn said, running up to her. She was crying again. "The pokédexes… th-they're not here! They're moving s-south, they said!"

"They said they sent something towards Pastoria," Key said, stepping over the broken-down warehouse door. "Isn't that to the south?"

"The dexes might be gone, but Lucas is probably here, right?" Saylee said encouragingly to Dawn. "After all, you saw somebody inside the building, didn't you, Zoe?"

"That's right," Zoe said, flying up into the cavernous warehouse. "I'll try to find him again…"

They warehouse was full of crates labelled with electrical supplies of various kinds; Sally checked inside of them, to be sure, but none of them contained anything living, Pokémon or human. Zoe led them through the maze of packing crates to where Maylene and her disciples were opening some of the crates to check inside.

"Did you catch those two grunts who ran in here?" Saylee asked.

"The ones at the gate? Has anyone seen then?" Maylene asked, looking around at her disciples, who all shook their heads. "All we found is this guy." She gestured to two of her disciples, who dragged out a sheepish-looking Looker.

"Agent Looker! What're you doing here?" Key said in surprise. "Guys, let him go, he's from Interpol!"

"I am thanking you," Looker said gratefully as he was released, dusting down his trenchcoat. "Investigating I have been this odd warehouse, into which many people and Pokémon are go and not reappear, including the family of a most important police officer here. Mysterious, no? But I cannot find a teleporter or any such device!"

"Agent Looker! Have you seen Lucas?" Dawn begged. "Galactic kidnapped him and brought him here… please, tell me you've seen him!"

"I have not," Looker said, his frown darkening. "Those Galactic fiends, always hurting innocent children! Are you alright, Dawn?"

"Y-yeah, but…" Dawn wiped furiously at her eyes as her pokétch rang. "P-Professor?" she said, her voice cracking.

" _Dawn! Are you alright?_ " Professor Rowan demanded, his powerful voice booming loudly out of the pokétch.

"I… Professor, Lucas… and my Pokémon…" Dawn sobbed, breaking down.

"Professor, this is Sar Saylee Pryce," Saylee said, taking Dawn's hand and giving it a comforting squeeze while speaking into the pokétch on her wrist. "Lucas has been kidnapped by agents of Galactic Corp."

" _I know, they just called me to offer me his life in exchange for my data,_ " Rowan said grimly. " _Of course I'll trade, but if you are capable of tracking down and obliterating these idiotically-dressed fools before then, I would be much obliged._ "

"When's the trade?" Saylee asked.

" _Ten days from now in Canalave. I've been told I'll be informed of a more precise destination at the time. I can only assume that he's not in Canalave yet, as the clever thing to do would be to effect the trade as soon as possible, although I don't think we can expect intelligence from Galactic…_ "

"According to the pokédex company, his is heading for Pastoria right now," Saylee said. "It's a long shot, but they might not have known that he had one to take it off of him. If he's a clever kid, he's got it hidden on him somewhere so we can track him, maybe other hostages too…"

"Never fear, Agent Looker of Interpol is on the case!" Looker cried. "To Pastoria!" He charged out of the warehouse.

"We'll keep searching the warehouse," Maylene promised. "You go to Pastoria. Oh... and here." She unpinned the badge she was wearing and tossed it to Key. "You deserve it. Your Gallade was getting the upper hand anyway."

"No he was _not_ ," her Lucario said indignantly. Maylene rolled her eyes at her.

"Thanks, Maylene," Key said, pinning the badge onto her coat. "I feel like we should finish this battle sometime so I can feel like we earned it, though."

"Getting that kid back from Galactic will definitely count as _earning_ it," Maylene promised. Dawn stared incredulously at the diminutive twelve-year-old, who blushed. "What? I'm the leader here, I can make decisions like that."

"…'that kid'," Dawn muttered, wiping her eyes and following Saylee and Key out of the warehouse.

{ _Jinua 27_ _th_ _, 7:18 pm_ }

{ _Route 214}_

Route 214 was a steep downhill slope towards the sea. The view from the Veilstone Gatehouse was a breathtaking vista of frosty grass, pines, and at the bottom, near the sea, an elaborate sprawl of villas. They didn't linger for long, however; the sun was already dipping down behind the peaks as they started, and while the paths down the slope were clear enough to make it a quick descent, night came on quickly in Sinnoh in winter.

"How much further to Pastoria City, Sar?" Caelin demanded when the humans started turning on their flashlights so that they could see the path.

"Too far to make tonight," Saylee sighed, checking the map on her Pokégear. "But we're not far away from the Valor Resort. We'll try and get rooms there tonight."

"We can't stop! We have to get to Pastoria!" Dawn said angrily.

"I know," Saylee replied patiently, "but we are tired from moving all day, we are hungry from not eating since breakfast, it's late, it's already dark, it's cold, and if we keep going we're going to collapse the moment we get to Pastoria, and a fat lot of good we'll do Lucas then."

"But—!" Dawn began to yell.

"Dawn!" Saylee cut her off, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "I know you want to find your brother—believe me, I understand! But we need to rest, just for a few hours, got it?"

"You don't understand! This is my _brother_!" Dawn yelled. Their Pokémon glanced at Key as she backed up a few nervous steps.

"I do understand, Dawn!" Saylee said loudly, trying extremely hard not to shout. "My brother went missing for three years! I searched two countries for him!" Dawn stepped back, staring in shock. "And… I found him dead. I understand your fear, Dawn, I really, truly, do, but this is different. We know where he is, and that he's a _hostage._ Believe it or not, that's a good thing. It means that Galactic has to keep him alive and safe, understand? Even they're not too dumb to know that the Professor will need to see him alive and safe before making the trade. I know you're worried about his health, and I understand that too. Does he need medication?" Dawn nodded. "Does he have it with him?" Another nod. "Is he usually good about taking it himself when he needs it?" Dawn nodded fervently. "Then we have to trust in him, just for a little while. We are going after him as fast as we physically can and he _will be alive_ when we find him, got it?"

"…G-got it," Dawn said quietly. "I'm, um… sorry about your brother."

"On that awkward note, I think I see the resort," Zoe said, swooping down to them and then back up into the black sky. The villas had vanished from their view when the path dipped into a dense pine forest, but it wasn't more than ten minutes' walk before the trees opened up into a paved square and a large sign welcoming them to the bright, opulent buildings of the Valor Resort. The buildings and trees were uplit to make the area bright and pleasant even at night, and a few people were still swimming in the lit-up heated pool or going into the restaurant near the seaside end of the resort, from which the sounds of music, conversation and cutlery clinking could be heard even from a distance.

"I hear the rooms here are really, _really_ expensive, y'know?" Dawn said with a frown. "I, uh, don't have much money…"

"Don't worry about it," Saylee said, pulling out her coat lapel and taking out her Dragon emblem. "This place looks pretty full, but even if rooms aren't going free I can requisition us a place to sleep."

"What did you get that for, can I ask?" Dawn said as they went up to the reception office.

"It was easy," Saylee said. "All I had to do was take down the same criminal organization twice and then beat a clan full of the most powerful trainers in Johto." She smiled. "Don't worry. I'm better at it these days. When I go to finish Galactic, I'll get it right the first time."

{}

{}

 _Between Grandpa, Bowie, Alan Rickman and apparently most of Celine Dion's family, as well as three coworkers' family members, this year is just starting off in a cavalcade of death. I'm clinging to the upcoming season two of Agent Carter to start making this year good…_

 _Also, this chapter comes with a oneshot,_ Friends With Benefits _, which is really just a silly little scene that takes place between this chapter and the next one._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Belle the Roselia, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	22. Chapter 21

_Saylee—Pokémon: 17 Deaths: 6_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 28_ _th_ _, 6:30 am}_

 _{Valor Resort}_

"Here are your travel breakfasts," the clerk said, setting a basket of poffins in front of Sally and Caelin. Caelin began handing out the poffins to the other Pokémon with Terra's aid while Dawn started munching toast. "Just follow the coast and you'll be at Pastoria in no time."

"Thank you very much," Saylee said, slinging her bag over her shoulder and taking her last two digestion pills before picking up her toast.

"Ummm… are you two okay?" Dawn asked, watching Key taking her heart pills with her juice. "If you're sick or something, are you sure you're gonna be okay to…?"

"We're pretty much fine now," Key reassured her, putting her pills away again. "We got hurt the last time we dealt with Galactic, but we're fine."

"Just wanted to make sure you're gonna be okay, y'know?" Dawn said nervously. "Just in case there's anything I need to, y'know, watch out for…"

"Nothing you need to worry about, but thanks for asking," Saylee promised. "We're in good enough shape to find your brother. Are _you_ okay? You kept muttering in your sleep last night." The resort was full of beautiful villas surrounding a central hotel, full of people on their winter holidays by the warmer coast. Only one room in the hotel had been going free, but luckily it had two queen-size beds, so Saylee and Key had put Dawn in one and slept in the other. The room was big enough for everyone except Merida to sit in, and even she had been permitted to spend the night in the hotel swimming pool at Saylee's dragon-emblemed insistence. Since they were leaving before dawn, it wouldn't inconvenience any of the hotel guests, and Saylee held a strong belief that it was best for Pokémon to get real sleep rather than pokéball-induced energy boosts once in a while. Besides, with Galactic possibly in the area, there was no such thing as too much security.

"Weird dreams," Dawn sighed, rubbing her forehead. "It's nothing. Just… dreams about being in a cave with something watching me. It's nothing. So, are we gonna go find Lou now?"

"Sar, we have had an idea," Caelin suggested. "Within the Great Marsh resides the Royal Empoleon Court, presided over by Prince's father, Water Lord Edric. We may be able to enlist his help in locating Prince, as well as in dealing with Galactic."

"Water Lord Edric may be of the same attitude as Grass Lord Teria, though," Terra said. "Why should the Water Lord assist us in destroying Galactic?"

"The rumours that Prince's kidnapper is of Galactic ought to be enough," Caelin said placidly. "We need tell him that they are but rumours, as yet uncomfirmed. We will allow him to draw his own conclusions, to the benefit of all."

" _Ma belle Princesse_ , please allow me to join you," Belle said, bowing. "Should these water-types prove… impolite, I assure you I shall deal with them." She winked at Caelin, flicking her thorn whip.

"I'll come too," Sally offered. "Belle and I will easily be able to guard you."

"We will also require Merida's assistance to reach the Water Lord's court," Caelin said, nodding out of the window where Merida was finishing her breakfast. "We cannot swim."

"Sure thing," Saylee said, returning the huge Gyarados for transport. "Tell us when we're at the right place and I'll release Merida so you guys can go into the swamp, okay?"

{ _Jinua 28_ _th_ _, 8:00 am_ }

{ _Pastoria City}_

The beach was empty save for a couple of automated bots combing the white sand aesthetically and immediately turning to restart their work as the women and Pokémon ran past, heading for the swampy clump of trees that indicated the location of Pastoria City. They reached the boundaries of the swamp before they actually saw any indication of the city beyond a signposted path, so Saylee let out Merida and their Pokémon left into the swamp while she, Key and Dawn headed into Pastoria City. The city was quite warm and humid compared to the rest of Sinnoh, no doubt due to the presence of the swamp, and full of berry bushes and trees.

"Okay… did the pokédex company say anywhere more specific than 'Pastoria'?" Saylee asked Dawn. The girl was interrupted by a loud shout before she could reply.

"Dawn! HEY DAWN!"

"Barry?" Dawn said in surprise as the lanky blond kid ran up and glomped her, swinging her off her feet. "What're you doing here?"

"I got to meet my idol! CRASHER WAKE!" Barry roared. "He's SO COOL! I'm gonna be his apprentice! Hey cool it's you ladies!" He let go of Dawn and turned to wave at Saylee and Key. "I didn't know you guys knew each other!"

"I could say the same," Saylee said, looking from Barry to Dawn. Peering over the edges of her glasses, she could see how similar the _gaps_ around them were, the way the _waiting places_ interacted freely and easily, just as they did between Dawn and Lucas…

 _Why does that mean anything to me? What is my life?_ she wondered, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"Barry and his mum live in Twinleaf, so we grew up together," Dawn explained.

"Yeah! So where's Lou?" Barry asked, looking around. "What are you guys doing here anyway? Is the Professor here?"

Dawn's face fell. "Barry…"she said quietly, looking down at her feet and hugging herself, "it was Galactic. Th-they kidnapped Lou… and my Pokémon…"

"What?!" Barry cried in outrage. "Dawn! Hugs! NOW!" He glomped her again, actually picking her up and cuddling her like a baby. "Don't worry! Crasher Wake's the best! He'll—"

 _WHOOMPH_

They were bowled over as a wall of hot, humid air smacked into them and the ground shook under their feet. Somewhere, people and Pokémon were screaming. After a moment, there was a short, sharp burst of odd-smelling rain.

"What the hell was that?!" Key gasped, struggling to her feet and squeezing swamp water out of her hair.

"An explosion!" Saylee yelled. " _Again!_ " She was nearly bowled over as a white-haired man who was built like a Poliwrath charged past her.

"Master!" Barry yelled, scrambling to get to his feet. "Master, what's going on?"

The man paused and looked back at the kid, showing that he was wearing a blue wrestling mask, matching tights, and not much else. "Barry, huh?" he said. "Look, you're a good kid, I know your father, but I never said anythin' about you being my apprentice," he sighed. "Right now, I've got bigger things to deal with."

"Where did the bomb go off?" Saylee demanded.

"Great Marsh," Wake said distractedly, running off. "SOMEBODY TELL ME WHY I DON'T SEE ANY DAMN AMBULANCES YET!"

"We have to go help!" Barry yelled, grabbing Dawn's hand and dragging her with him as he chased after Wake.

"Dawn! Barry! Wait!" Saylee yelled, chasing after them.

"Lee, the Great Marsh!" Key called. "That's where—"

"I know!" Saylee yelled frantically. _Caelin, Terra, Merida, Sally, Belle… please be alright…_

Smoke was rising out of the Great Marsh, billowing in continuous thick, black clouds that suggested that something had been set on fire. Humans and Pokémon both were piling out of the entry gate, coughing and screaming and in some cases bleeding.

"Sar! Champion!" Dawn called. She and Barry were standing by the gate, warding off people who were trying to go in. "Mr Wake went in to see about the damage—"

"CRASHER Wake!" Barry corrected her.

"—but we saw the bomber!" Dawn continued. "He's with Galactic! He went that way!" She pointed down the road to the resort.

"We'll get him," Saylee promised, releasing Zoe and Puck. "Zoe, fly over the marsh and find Caelin and the others. Puck, stay here and protect Dawn, got it?"

Zoe nodded and flew off. "But what about you?" Puck asked, hovering by Dawn's shoulder. "You have no Pokémon to protect you!"

"Key's got hers," Saylee said, looping her arm through Key's. "We'll be fine. We've got no time to waste. Let's go!"

{ _Jinua 28_ _th_ _, 8:47 am_ }

{ _Valor Resort}_

The beach smelled musty, a mix of rotten mud and burning. Random singed, slimy plants were strewn about and getting washed up by the waves. "Swamp water got blasted a long way," Saylee said, trying not to skid and slip too much on the slimy sand.

"I can't smell any humans through this," Ephraim complained, wrinkling his nose at the mess.

Raiden appeared before them. "Rai zapped ahead!" he said. "Rai saw green-haired human go up cliff!"

"Up to the resort?" Key said, looking up at the cliffs above them. "Well done, Raiden! Let's go!"

Inside of the resort's south reception, several people were crowded around the reception desk, demanding to know what had happened. One lady was having extensive hysterics and a sizeable subset of the crowd were threatening to sue for whatever had happened. Beyond the crowd, however, Saylee spotted a familiar figure in a long brown coat handing a severely bleeding Croagunk to a nurse

"Officer Looker!" she called, running up to him. "Is your Croagunk okay?"

"Clara?" Looker said, wiping swamp mud from his face as he watched the nurse hurry away. "The nurses will do their best, I am sure. I am afraid we were searching part of the Marsh when the bomb was exploding, and this is closer to where we were than the Pastoria Centre. Besides, Pastoria will be very busy, I am sure, and the culprit must be apprehended!"

"We heard it was a member of Galactic Corp," Saylee said, massaging her aching chest. "He was seen running this way, and we're going after him."

Looker nodded. "Myself, I am hearing the explosion, and seeing a Galactic run past, and I am thinking to myself, this is no coincidence! Well, this good man is saying that a Galactic is indeed passing through, so off we must go to search!"

With much shouting and flashing of badges, emblems and ribbons, they made their way out of the lobby and into the resort area. "I shall be going this way," Looker said, pointing to the western pool area, "and you will be going east! Much luck, my friends!"

"I'm not sure who's more terrifyingly energetic, him or Barry," Key said, watching the officer go.

"Let's go find the bomber, huh?" Buddy said, tugging her ankle. "Or he'll get away!"

"Ewww… even here?" Key said, making a face as she hopped over some swamp weeds strewn across the path.

A number of resort employees were starting to rake the weeds off of the path. "Have you seen a man with green hair and a grey jumpsuit?" Saylee asked them.

"I saw a guy like that," a Carnivine offered, chewing on some of the weeds that she was raking up. "He was running down the Sunyshore road…"

"Thank you!" Saylee called as she, Key, Buddy, Gareth and Ephraim ran past, following the path down to the indicated road east.

Even with their injuries paining them, Saylee and Key caught up to the green-haired goon after barely five minutes running down the path. "YOU! STOP!" Saylee yelled. He looked over his shoulder, and then staggered into a run.

"Rai zap?" Raiden suggested.

"Don't, we don't know if he has more explosives on him," Saylee cautioned.

"Gareth, can you get him?" Key asked, looking to her Gallade.

"Of course," Gareth said, teleporting to an inch in front of the man and simply holding out his arm. The man smacked into it and fell flat on his back.

"You're under arrest!" Key yelled. "Hey, am I allowed to say that?"

"No, but I am," Saylee said, wishing she'd remembered to bring cuffs. "You're under arrest! Don't move!"

"Move?" the man giggled. He turned to them with a disconcertingly lopsided grin and crazy eyes. "The new world… the new universe… I'm so excited I can't sit still! GET 'EM!" He released a Croagunk, which threw a punch at Ephraim.

"Gareth!" Key cried. The Gallade leapt in to engage the Croagunk. Behind them, the bomber took the space to scramble to his feet and flee.

"WAIT!" Saylee yelled, running after him as he fled down the forest path. "HOLD IT RIGHT—urk!"

Strong arms grabbed her and yanked her behind a tree. Whoever it was was so tall that Saylee's feet dangled off the ground. "Let me go!" Saylee snapped, trying to kick the knee of her attacker, who had her arms pinned. "He'll get away—huh?"

"No, he won't," the tall, black-clad blonde said with a wink, setting Saylee down. "Godiva's tracking him. He'll have to go report back to his commander. When he does, we'll be there."

"Hello, Sar," Titania said, leaning over her trainer's shoulder. "How is Puck?"

"Uh, fine," Saylee said, looking up the path. Key and her Pokémon were running down it with Dawn, Barry and Puck in tow. "There he is now."

"Mom!" Puck cried happily, zipping over to hug the Togekiss. "Look! I evolved!"

"So you did!" Titania said happily. "You look wonderful, darling!"

"Where'd he go? The bomber?" Key shouted as she ran up, skidding to a halt as she took in the taller blonde. "Oh, it's you!"

"Is this your big sister?" Barry asked, looking from Key to the woman.

"Barry, you idiot, this is Lady Sar Cynthia Shirona! The Champion!" Dawn gasped, bowing to her. "… _is_ she your sister? Does being a Champion run in the family?"

"We're _not related_ ," Key insisted. "…Waitaminnit. You're the _Champion_?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself properly when we met in Eterna, did I?" Cynthia said with a faint smile. "I cannot apologize enough that you lost your Pokémon dealing with the Galactic building there. Dealing with these people, here in Sinnoh, is my responsibility, not that of the Champion of Hoenn and the Head Ranger of Kanto." She bowed extremely low, touching her forehead.

"I see you know who we are," Saylee said, a little thrown off.

"I do, and don't worry, I'm here to do my job," Cynthia assured them. "I'm tracking the bomber as we speak. He won't get away."

"Good!" Barry said firmly. "Crasher Wake couldn't get near the bomb site. He said it was in the _deep_ marshes and the Water Lord is _pissed_!"

"I'm not surprised," Cynthia sighed, looking through the trees in the direction of Lake Valor. "I just hope the blast didn't upset the Lake Guardian…" She turned back to them. "Have you heard the folklore about it? They say there is an island inside the lake. And inside that island is a mirage of a Pokémon. No one must enter the chamber of that Pokémon, except for a person chosen by that Pokémon…"

"A chosen person, huh?" Key said, glancing at Saylee.

"Dawn," Saylee said, pointedly refusing to respond to that look— _the_ Champion _is an avatar? Well, at least that means she'll have good Pokémon to protect her_ —"have you called the pokédex company?"

"Yeah… they've lost the signal of Lou's pokédex," she sniffed. "But mine's in Celestic Town, they said…"

"Then we'll go there next, and if there's no luck we'll go onto Canalave," Saylee decided. "Sar Cynthia, Dawn's brother Lucas has been kidnapped by Galactic Corp. They're ransoming him for access to Professor Rowan's research. The trade's going to be in nine days in Canalave City."

" _Really_ …" Cynthia said with a scowl. "I'm going after the bomber's commander. They might have Lucas, or know where he is. For now, if you're wanting to go to Celestic Town, I have to warn you that terrorism security protocols mean that the underground trains won't be running. The caves can take you as far as Solaceon…"

"But we'd have to go through the pass behind the Café Cabin, wouldn't we?" Gareth said. "The Psyduck in there won't budge!"

"The Psy-? Oh, they've left!" Cynthia said brightly. "There was a transmitter sending out a signal that was tuned to a Psyduck's psychic wavelength several thousand metres above them. Due to the way the transmitter produced its signal, there was a blind spot directly below it, that's why the Psyduck were gathering. Titania had to fly pretty high to find it, but once located it was simple enough to aggressively deactivate it."

"How do you 'aggressively deactivate' something?" Puck asked.

"With an Aura Sphere," Titania said placidly.

"If they're gone, then we can easily get to Celestic from Solaceon," Saylee said, bowing back to Cynthia. "C'mon. Let's go back and find Caelin and the others so we can get moving before sundown."

{ _Jinua 28_ _th_ _, 8:30 am_ }

{ _Pastoria Marsh}_

" _Ma belle princesse…_ are you okay?"

Caelin drifted awake to find herself draped over a damp tree branch. Belle was leaning over her, looking concerned. The Roselia was covered in ugly black burns; her blue rose was gone entirely, as was a good chunk of her head where she'd once merely had a scar. "Belle!" Caelin gasped. "What happened to you?!"

"Do you remember the explosion, _ma belle Princesse_?" Belle asked hoarsely. "It knocked all of us into the water, and sank Merida… your tail nearly went out, and took much feeding to rekindle." She coughed, bringing up black, sticky sap.

"Rest, Belle, you are badly injured!" Caelin commanded, picking up the Roselia in her arms to prevent the smaller Pokémon from falling off of the branch. "You saved our life…. Thank you."

"Princess! Belle!"

Caelin looked up to see Zoe flying towards them. "Zoe!" she cried. "You must find and bring Merida at once so that we can return to Pastoria! Belle is in urgent need of medical care!"

"Right away, princess!" Zoe said, flying off. Caelin turned to Belle, deeply sickened by her injuries. _These burns… are they only from the explosion? She said my tail needed 'feeding' to restore…_ Gods…

" _Ma belle Princesse_ ," Belle murmured.

"Rest!" Caelin commanded. "You must recover!"

"I am wilting, _ma belle Princesse_ ," Belle said softly Burned leaves were crumbling off of her at an alarming rate. "It is okay… if you are alive. I am sorry to die on you. I know it will hurt you…"

"Then do not die!" Caelin begged her.

" _Ma belle Princesse,_ even you do not control that," Belle giggled weakly. "But I… truly believe that you will be a good Fire Lord. I have no regrets about leaving my meadow to fight for you, _Princesse_. I consider my life well done."

"Belle… I never wanted any of you to die for me," Caelin said, her voice breaking.

"And that is why you will be a great Fire Lord," Belle said weakly. "Your love for all of us… it shines so brightly… _ma belle reine… je vous aime réellement… de tout… mon coeur…_ "

"Belle!" Caelin cried as the Roselia slumped, falling backwards off of the branch. Caelin tried to grab her, but Belle's wilting arm broke, leaving Caelin holding a dying pink rose as Belle vanished into the murky water below. "BELLE!"

Caelin knew it would be no use to dive after her. It would only get herself killed, and then Gimli, Bob, Sean… all of those killed by Jupiter… all of it would be for nothing.

"Thank you, Belle," she said quietly to the flower. "I do love you… I love you all… please, tell them that."

She gave the rose a kiss, then settled back to watch and wait for Merida to retrieve her.

{}

{}

 _Okay, so this probably isn't making this year's death train any better, but here are two things that are going well so far in 2016:_

 _Agent Carter season 2_

 _My job interview with AEON, for which I've been in London all weekend (hence why this chapter's late out, sorry!) and which I think went very well, and I should be hearing in the next 6-10 days whether or not I have a job teaching English in Japan. Wish me better luck than this run..._

 _ **Saylee**_

 _RIP Belle the Roselia, level 8-32_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	23. Chapter 22

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Jinua 28_ _th_ _, 12:25 pm}_

 _{Pastoria City}_

Pastoria was oddly hushed by noon; rescue helicopters whirred quietly overhead, but the populace was either waiting in hospital for loved people and Pokémon, or hiding in their homes. The streets were empty as Saylee and Key finally reunited with all of their Pokémon outside of the Marsh and learned what had been done. Merida, Sally and Zoe all had varying degrees of burns, though none serious, and they only needed a brief stay at the clinic to heal and recover. While they waited, subdued and grieving, Saylee ran a favour for Caelin.

"Here," Saylee said, handing a stiff, round package to the Princess before releasing Sally and Zoe. "It's treated in this special fluid to stop it rotting or burning, although it's already pretty wilted…"

"We do not mind," Caelin said, unwrapping the glittering stone circlet with the brown-tinted red rose attached to it. She arranged it on her head so that the rose sat over her left ear. "It has a dark beauty to it. Rather like burning Galactic corpses."

"That's weird," Ephraim said, sniffing it. "It's like it turned to stone. How'd you do it?"

"A jeweller at the resort did it," Saylee explained. "It won't burn up like the flower crowns Belle made for you before… Speaking of 'stone', Caelin, you were firm that Belle's replacement should be somebody sturdy." She held out a Great Ball. "I don't think you were there when Belle… I think the only appropriate word is 'seduced' this Rhyhorn into not attacking us. Convincing a Rhyhorn not to charge is one of the middle classes of miracle, so I'm thinking she'll be very up for avenging Belle's death."

"What even _is_ a Rhyhorn?" asked Sally, who had been hovering extremely protectively around Caelin since their recovery from the Marsh and the revelation of Belle's death. In addition to the scar over her left eye, one of the points on her tail star was now missing and she kept grooming her fur over jagged missing patches where her fur had been burned off.

"Very strong, faster than you'd expect once they get moving, and nigh unstoppable when they do," Saylee said. "Miller said she's very stubborn, which is pretty typical of the species. Her name's Rhianne."

"Let us welcome her and be off," Caelin declared, standing up and looking at the pokéball. "We must rescue this poor kidnapped boy."

"I wish we had been able to ask the Water Lord about Prince," Terra said sadly. "If they've seen or heard from him…"

"Water Lord Edric is priming his clan for war against Galactic, which is to our advantage, at least," Caelin said darkly. "Now, Sar… Rhianne, if you please."

Saylee clicked open the pokéball to release the bulky Rhyhorn. Rhianne was large and strong enough for Saylee, Key and Dawn to ride; Saylee might even have suggested it, as a Rhyhorn charging at full speed could have them at Celestic in a day, if only the route to Celestic was a straight line. A charging Rhyhorn wasn't good at corners and could have a stopping distance of up to three hundred metres.

Rhianne looked around in confusion, squinting as she tried to remember who they were. A Rhyhorn's memory was not long. "Greetings, Rhianne," Caelin said, drawing the rock-type's attention as her voice returned to its usual powerful register from the faint wisp it had been since Belle's death. "We are Princess Caelin of Coronet. These are our handmaids, Terra, Puck and Tashigi; our steed, Sally; our scout, Zoe; our tracker, Ephraim; our valet, Buddy; and our bodyguard, Gareth." Rhianne looked around at them all, muttering their names under her breath. "Our advisors are Sar Saylee of Kanto and Lady Key of Hoenn, with the spirit Raiden. Our flagship is a Gyarados by the name of Merida. We wish to call upon you as our other bodyguard, in place of Belle, who fell victim to a bomb set by the nefarious Galactic."

"Belle? The pretty Roselia? Belle is dead?" Rhianne growled, her eyes flashing. "Galactic… I don't know them. But point me at them and let me charge!"

"I like you," Sally said, crouching down so Caelin could hop onto her back with Terra.

"C'mon, the Pastoria Underground entrance is this way," Saylee said, returning Rhianne again. "Jules gave me a map to the footpaths. We should get there in two days, tops."

{ _Jinua 28_ _th_ _, 9:38 pm_ }

{ _Underground}_

Travelling underground caused a distorted sense of time; some part of the brain always tried to track the hours by the progress of the sun and moon and got confused by consistent artificial light. The retinue travelled in an upset silence until eventually Key suggested that it was late enough to make camp and sleep. Caelin immediately curled up and closed her eyes, one hand on the rose over her ear; she made a show of instantly falling asleep, although when Terra curled up next to her Princess, an orange paw found its way onto the Turtwig's shell. Zoe lay on Sally's back as the angry Luxray paced back and forth, growling under her breath and occasionally scratching at the burns shearing through her fur on her right side until a metallic wing with most of its paint singed off smacked her paw back down. Key sat leaning against the wall, Buddy sitting under one of her arms and the other holding Raiden's toy robot as the little ghost sadly cuddled his trainer. Ephraim watched Saylee closely as the woman started putting dinner together, warming something up over—given that Caelin was feigning sleep and cooking over her tail would probably be rude—what appeared to be a jar full of purple fire. One Togetic sat by the sleeping Caelin's side, examining the messy dreamcatcher that Saylee had pinned up over the Princess' head; the other drifted off alone down the tunnel and sat alone.

"Are you Puck or Tashigi?" Dawn asked, sitting down next to it.

"Puck," he sniffed. "Oh, uh…" he turned away quickly, wiping his eyes.

"It's okay," Dawn said, giving him a hug. "Don't cry… what's wrong?"

"I… I miss my mama," Puck admitted quietly. "Don't tell the others! I need to be strong like them!"

"It's okay," Dawn said quietly. "I miss my mum and dad too right now, y'know. Lou and I have gone on trips with the Professor before, but this time…" She sighed. "I wish I was more grown up… I want to go running to my mum and dad, stamp my foot and scream until they bring Lou and my Pokémon back, y'know? I'm not too old to want to do that, but just old enough to know it won't work… oh, gods…" She hugged Puck tighter. "Cerrie, Anya, Thera… I hope they're not being used for anything _evil_ … and Lucas' Christopher…"

"They've got a nice trainer, so I bet they won't obey Galactic," Puck told her, nuzzling her cheek.

"Thanks," Dawn said quietly. "Gods… why is this happening? I just wish I knew what to do…"

"After we've searched Celestic for your brother, you're going to Canalave."

"Saylee!" Puck said in surprise as his adoptive trainer sat down next to them, offering him a warm poffin and Dawn a cup of noodles. "Um…"

"It's okay," Saylee said with a smile. "Puck, if you're scared and want to go back to your mother, _that's okay_. She left you with us to keep you _away_ from danger, and Belle can testify to how well we did on _that_ score. If you wanted to stay with your mother, you should've said something sooner."

"I… I didn't _know_ until we saw mama earlier," Puck said wretchedly, fidgeting with his poffin. "When she left again I felt so… so…"

"It's okay, Puck," Saylee said gently. "We're not going to force you to stay with us if you don't want to. I sure as hell don't want to risk getting reluctant blood on my hands. And Dawn…"

"Yes?" Dawn said, surprised at the sudden switch of address.

"If Lucas is in Celestic, great, we'll let Caelin loose with her fire and blood thing, rescue him, and see you both safe to Canalave," Saylee said placidly. "If not, you're going to stay safe in Canalave, and _we're_ going to find Lucas. I know you want to find him, believe me I do, but you need to be safe, Dawn. I can't bring my brother back, but come hell or high water I will bring back yours. I promise."

"Okay," Dawn agreed, twisting her fork in the noodles. "I believe you, Sar. Somehow... I really trust you, y'know? I know you'll protect Lou. Um…"

"Yes?" Saylee asked. "Don't worry, we'll find your Pokémon too."

"Thank you," Dawn said with a teary smile.

"C'mon, eat up let's get some sleep," Saylee said, patting Dawn's back. "Between Caelin and my jar of fire, it's pretty toasty down here."

"Um… why _do_ you have a jar of fire?" Dawn asked, staring at the purple flame. "And how?"

"That's a story for another day," Saylee said, steering her and Puck back to the group.

{ _Jinua 29_ _th_ _, 9:07 am_ }

{ _Underground}_

"Are you okay, Dawn?" Saylee asked as they started trekking along the caves the next morning. Dawn kept rubbing her eyes and staring vaguely into the middle distance.

"Weird night's sleep? I had one too," Key said sympathetically. "Being underground… you don't see any sunrise or sunset or anything. Although this country freaks me out, the sun rises really late and sets really early…"

"That's because it's winter and we're really far north," Saylee pointed out.

"Wait 'til the middle of winter, when it's dark for _days_ ," Zoe said happily. "It's great!"

"If you can see in the _dark_ , yeah," Buddy grumbled.

"You _can't_?" Raiden asked in what sounded like genuine surprise.

"It wasn't that," Dawn said, fidgeting with her hair. "It was… weird dreams. Never mind. It's nothing."

"What were they of?" Saylee said, reflexively patting the pocket of her bag with her dreamcatcher in it. _Can't have been nightmares…_

"Well… I've been having weird dreams since we stayed the night at the Valor Resort, y'know?" Dawn said, twisting her hair around her finger. "I didn't know whether to say anything about it… but, well, you remember Sar Cynthia talked about the lake guardian? I swear I dreamed about it. It was waiting for me, in the middle of a dark, damp cave…"

"Really?" Saylee said, keeping her face carefully blank. _So that's it. Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie… which one of those bloody things lives in Lake Valor?_ "That's interesting… if you have any more dreams like that, could you let me know?"

"Really?" Dawn said skeptically. "It's just a dream, y'know?"

"Yeah, but this stuff really does interest me," Saylee insisted. "What if the actual lake guardian is sending you message? I'd like to know."

"Sure… okay, then," Dawn agreed, looking sceptical. "I'll let you know… there are stories about the Lake Guardians talking to humans in their dreams, but they're just, y'know, stories."

"Well, I'm told that if you want to know about Sinnoh's legends, Celestic Town is the place to go," Key said, exchanging a look with Saylee.

{ _Jinua 30_ _th_ _, 1:19 pm_ }

{ _Route 210}_

The closest Underground exit to Celestic was near the Cabin Café. When they reached the pass behind the café in the early afternoon, the ground was still muddy and covered in the footprints of hundreds of confused Psyduck.

"Wow, they're really gone," Key said, looking up at the sky. "I never thought the transmitter would be flying."

"Me neither… I'm glad Cynthia got it, anyway," Saylee said, directing them up the path. Ephraim and Rhianne led, with Zoe flying overhead. Sally, with Caelin and Terra on her back, followed behind them, with Gareth and Buddy directly behind. Saylee, Dawn and Key followed with Puck, Tashigi and Raiden. Saylee hung back a little, watching Dawn. The girl was having dreams about the lake guardian, even halfway across the continent from the actual lake. _Should I tell her? She may well be called to ascend soon… fifteen's better than ten, I guess. But if I'm right and Barry and Lucas are the other members of the lake trio, they could be close too… Ho-oh and Lugia did demand to ascend within months of each other, so they'll probably want to ascend at similar times… I don't have Barry's number, so Dawn'll have to ask him for me if he's had dreams, and there's no way of asking Lucas… If something happens to him while Galactic have him…_

"YAH!"

Saylee shrieked as she was startled out of her thoughts by part of a tree turning into a little boy in black clothes who jumped at her, swinging off of her arm before landing in front of her. Everyone else turned back to stare.

"Hold up, I didn't smell a human there," Ephraim said, staring at the boy, who was babbling excitedly at Saylee in a foreign language while she rubbed her aching arm.

"I didn't sense him, either," Gareth said with a troubled frown.

"Ah. He'll be very proud of that," a man with a foreign accent said, walking up the path towards them. The little boy ran up to the man and they exchanged words in the same foreign language, before the little boy ran off. The man wasn't short, but he was stout, which made him look it, with short, light-green hair. "Sorry to startle you," he said. His accent was thick, but his Fairlan was good. "The boys love to play camouflage games. It can take me all day to find the three of them!"

"He's very good at it," Saylee said fervently. "Gave me a right start. Are you tourists?"

"We're a little stuck at the end until the trains start running," the man said with a shrug. "I hope we can get back to the ship soon. This country's a little frightening, isn't it? All these power outages and terrorists running amok…"

"I don't think the Sinnoh tourist board will be focusing on that in the future," Key said with a grin.

The man laughed. "Well, I'm sure it'll all be cleared up soon," he said. "We'll wait and see when the authorities manage to get a handle on this..." He turned and headed back towards the Café Cabin.

"They kinda chose the worst possible time to visit, didn't they?" Key commented.

"The child was skilled, however," Caelin said, narrowing her eyes at the tree where the boy had been.

"Tell me about it," Saylee said, rubbing her chest. "Damn kid nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Since you're alive, shouldn't we get moving?" Dawn asked, fidgeting. "We've got a long way to go to Celestic Town, right?"

They proceeded along the path, which began to slope downwards as it widened out, full of long, thick grass that hadn't been trampled and devoured by Psyduck. When they reached the other side of the grass, they found the area to be thick with fog that rolled over them incredibly fast.

"I can't see a thing!" Dawn exclaimed. "What do we do?"

"Sally, Zoe and Gareth can all navigate in the fog," Saylee said, reaching out to hold onto Dawn's hand and keep her from moving in the fog. "What about you, Rhianne?"

"I go up and down mountains lots," Rhianne rumbled. "Fog doesn't matter. Rock under my feet does."

"Okay… so Sally, can you carry Key while Dawn and I ride Rhianne?" Saylee asked. "I'll have to put the rest of you away so we can do this safely. According to my map, we need to climb up the next slope until we get to the top of a waterfall, go over the bridge, and then it's downhill all the way to Celestic."

"So be it," Caelin said with a nod before vanishing into her pokéball.

"I like the 'downhill all the way' part," Sally said, stooping to let Key onto her back. "I can see the path we need to take up ahead. It's pretty steep. You up for that, Rhianne?"

"It's a mountain," Rhianne said, which Saylee took for a "yes". She helped Dawn up onto the Rhyhorn's back and climbed up behind her as Zoe flew off to scout out the route ahead.

{ _Jinua 30_ _th_ _, 4:21 pm_ }

{ _Celestic Town}_

Halfway down the slope, the fog abruptly cleared and they found themselves looking out over Celestic Town.

They were at a sort of valley where four mountains met. Flat, ringed plateaus had been cut into the mountainsides, with stairs and long, smooth slopes linking each ring. It reminded Saylee of the stone crater of Sootopolis, though smaller and without a lake at the bottom or white stone all around. The houses were all very old-fashioned log cabins, so old that their wooden walls were worn grey and smooth. As they walked to the edge of the highest ring, they saw that at the corners of the houses, the wood had practically melded at the points where the logs interlocked. The largest building was built on the last ring before the plateau at the bottom, and from a distance Saylee couldn't tell if it was also wood or hewn out of stone. Celestic Town was _old_.

The welcome infoboard said that Celestic Town had no restrictions on what trained Pokémon were outside of pokéballs, citing the town's long history of distinguished trainers. "Hey, check out the photo they have here," Key said as Saylee was releasing her Pokémon. "Isn't this Cynthia?"

"Well, she's from Celestic, right?" Saylee said, peering at the photo. It was one of Cynthia as a teenager; she had short, spiked-up hair and a Togetic at her shoulder. She was standing between two teenage boys. One had long silver hair, and Saylee was startled to realize that it was Steven Stone even before Key brought up the caption. It identified the other teenager as Riley Aaronson, who was apparently knighted for his immense aura skill (whatever that was) at the same time as Cynthia. More information on those knighted into the Order of Coronet, according to the board, could be found at the museum.

They continued on down the path to the first ring of houses; it was the thickest as well as the highest, with a block five houses thick between the cliff wall and the edge of the ring. A young girl with curly ginger hair was leaning out of the window of a house overlooking the fenced-off edge of the slope, peering nervously at the valley floor. "Excuse me, miss," Saylee said, climbing off of Rhianne's back, "but have any strange people come into Celestic Town in the past few days?"

" _You're_ strangers," the little girl pointed out.

"We're rangers," Saylee said, getting out her license to show the girl. "Never believe that somebody's a police officer or a ranger until they've shown you this," she advised the child.

"Okay," the girl said, nodding solemnly, making a big show of closely examining the license. "Are you here about the weird man at the cave?"

"What weird man at the cave?" Key asked quickly.

The girl pointed down the mountain. "Mummy said to stay inside, so I haven't seen him," she said, "but I called Erin 'cause she lives near the bottom and _she_ said there was a spaceman with green hair sayin' he's got a bomb!"

"Galactic!" Caelin snarled, leaping onto Sally's back. The Luxray leapt over the fence, charging down the sheer rock wall.

"Princess, wait!" Gareth called, charging after her with Zoe, Tashigi and Ephraim in tow.

"What do we do now?" Buddy asked, peering nervously over the cliff.

"Find a safe way down those slopes," Dawn sighed, peering nervously at the icy stairs and slopes down to the bottom. Celestic clearly did not have the underground heating elements that kept snow and ice from forming on the streets in other major cities in Sinnoh.

"Hold up," Saylee said. "I am _not_ running down those. Sweetie?" she turned back to the little girl. "I bet those slopes are great for sledging when it's snowy, huh?"

"They're _always_ good, even when it's just icy!" the little girl said, nodding. "But we're not s'posed to go without Randa watching… she's Benny's mommy's Gardevoir."

"It's okay, we're grown-ups, so we can sledge when we want," Saylee said, gesturing to Key and Dawn. "Do you have one we can borrow?"

"I got a little one," the girl said, hopping down from the window and running over to a closet in her room. "But my big brother's got a _big_ one!"

"Perfect," Saylee said with a smile. "Do you think we can borrow them for special ranger stuff?"

{}

{}

 _Damn, I forgot to put up Rhianne's stats when I caught here… so here they are now XP_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Name: Rhianne. Species: Rhyhorn. Nature: Serious. Ability: Rock Head. Location: Route 214. Level: 24._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados, Rhianne the Rhyhorn_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	24. Chapter 23

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _JInua 30_ _th_ _, 4:25 pm}_

 _{Celestic Town}_

"You're fast!" Key called as she kicked off of a wall to turn her sled around the slope. Saylee had managed to avoid kicking off by pulling on the strings at the front of the little sled she was riding to turn. "Have you gone sledding a lot before?"

"Not exactly," Saylee said, leaning forwards to go faster. "Skidding, mostly… Kanto's covered in scrap metal. Find a relatively flat bit that you can grab the edge of without cutting your hands too bad, and you've got a decent ride down the nearest slope." She'd also done a fair bit of hurley, which you did when you couldn't find sledge material but _could_ find the skull of a large Pokémon. Those were also plentiful, even outside of Lavender Town. Rapidash skulls were the best, because they were long and fast and had a horn on the front to hold onto and steer with, but Ponyta skulls were a close second and Nidoking were actually pretty good so long as you were careful not to nick yourself on the horn. _But Key and Dawn probably won't want to hear about that…_

The iced-over slopes between the levels of Celestic Town made it easy for the sledges to slide down; the trick was getting up enough speed to move along the flat part of the rings between slopes and cornering as the spiral tightened. Saylee rode ahead on the little round sledge, while Key and Dawn followed on the larger, rectangular one. The larger sled's greater weight made it slide faster, and it kept banging into the back of Saylee's and pushing it forwards.

The descent took less than a minute. By the time they reached the flat plateau at the bottom—little more than a circle of earth in between a small wooden shrine and a large, ornately carved cave entrance—Caelin had a green-haired Galactic goon pinned to the ground by his neck. Sally had one of his wrists in her mouth, while Ephraim was gently worrying at the other. Gareth was juggling six pokéballs that he'd taken from the man. The victim was starting to go red in the face from Caelin's chokehold, making a scar on his left temple stand out pale pink.

"Caelin, stop!" Saylee said, rolling off of her sled and scrambling to her feet to run over to her Pokémon. When she got close, she did a double-take from the man's face to his scar. "Really stop! That's not the bomber from before! I know who that is!"

"You _know_ this man, Sar?" Caelin asked, reluctantly letting go of her prisoner's throat.

"Hello, Sar Kanto," the man coughed.

"Sir Lance of Blackthorn," Saylee said, pulling off his green wig and its compression net, freeing his spiky red hair. "What are you doing here? If it's actually to join Galactic, by the way, you need to sue your neurosurgeon for malpractice. You know they've gotten their hands on a species-specific adaptation of Team Rocket's evolution signal?"

"I'm aware of that," Lance said hoarsely, rubbing his throat after Sally and Ephraim tentatively let him go. "They're the source of that Red Gyarados outbreak. They must have gotten into the Mahogany security archives… could've been the same ones that broke into the Alph research archives. It was actually a very subtle theft, that, aside from the corpses. If that researcher hadn't been working late, we might never have known there was a theft. Those archives were even encrypted against the Porygon-2 upgrade. Someone in a Galactic is a computer genius, although I don't think it's Cyrus. He's a talented demagogue and trainer, I'll give him that, but he doesn't spend much time on computers. I've been shadowing him for a while and the man delegates _everything_. Thanks," he said with Gareth handed his pokéballs back to him.

"You're shadowing him?" Saylee said in surprise. "He's here?"

Lance nodded. "He's in the caves somewhere with a research student that he grabbed to question. Like I said, I've been shadowing the man for a while and he's extremist and dangerous, and yes, I know how that sounds coming from _me_. I hopped on the Pastoria bomb scare to keep anyone else from coming down here… Kidnapping's the first thing I've managed to directly catch him in the act of, so I figure I'll get him when he comes back out. None of my Pokémon are small enough to fit in there without destroying the cave."

"But we are," Caelin said, vaulting back onto Sally's back. "Sar, Lady Key, release the others. We will destroy this cur here and now!"

"Do _not_ just go charging in," Saylee said, reaching for Rhianne and Puck's pokéballs before deciding against it. _Puck doesn't need to get into this, and… we need to be delicate here. Rhianne… isn't._ "He's got a _hostage_. We will go in carefully, and…" she looked at Dawn. "Lance, are there any more Galactic members in town?"

"Just me and dead-eyes," Lance affirmed. "His Pokémon are pretty strong, so he doesn't generally travel with other Galactic members. I adopted the disguise just in case he spotted me… his commanders have sicced shadows on him before."

"Dawn, you stay with Lance," Saylee ordered. "Lance, if anything happens to her, I will make you and your dragons _wish_ you were on Mt Silver, got it? Frankly, it worries me that, between you and Cyrus, _you_ look like the safe one."

"Why do you think I've been following him?" Lance said, grinning lopsidedly.

"If he has Lucas—" Dawn began.

"We'll rescue him, no worries," Key said, releasing Terra, Raiden and Buddy. "C'mon!"

Saylee went ahead into the caves with Caelin's tail lighting the way. Mysterious designs covered the walls, strange Pokémon painted and carved everywhere, with lines of ropes keeping visitors from getting too close to the faded paint and worn carvings. Somewhere in the cave, they heard a shout and a _clang_. "Brayden! NO!"

"Brayden… wait," Key gasped, darting forwards. "That's Aggie's! I _knew_ he was on a research placement in Sinnoh…"

There was another yell of pain as they came up to a part of the cave where a dim light was hung from the ceiling to allow the paintings to be viewed. Cyrus was standing with his Weavile, watching a Golbat slam an armoured Machoke to the ground. The blow was brutal enough to have the Machoke pushing up its visor to cough blood onto the ground. A tall, broad man with shoulder-length brown hair, presumably Aggie, returned his badly injured Machoke seconds before the Golbat slashed its wing through the ground where Brayden's head had been. Aggie himself was wearing a clearly decorative breastplate and had a nasty-looking set of claw marks running up his left arm. He raised his arms protectively over the cave wall behind him, wincing in pain and trying not to drip blood on the ancient paintings.

"Ice Punch," Cyrus said blankly. The Weavile curled its claws into a block of ice and swung at Aggie.

"You!" Caelin roared, leaping forwards and catching the Weavile's fist in hers. Steam rose as Caelin's body heat caused the ice to boil, and the dark-type shrieked in pain as its fist started making unsettling cracking noises.

"Flame Wheel!" Saylee called. Caelin blasted the Weavile back into a steaming heap.

"Are you okay, Aggie?" Key asked, taking Saylee's medbag when the older girl tossed it to her and pulling out a roll of bandages.

"Never been better," he deadpanned. "I love being violently questioned about ancient legends by creepy fuckers. Dream job, right here."

"What do you want here, Cyrus?" Saylee demanded as Sally, Ephraim, Gareth and Caelin formed a protective line facing Cyrus, with Zoe, Tashigi and Raiden floating over their heads and Buddy nervously peering out from behind Gareth. Terra stood loyally at Caelin's side, glaring at Cyrus.

"I want to put an end to this pointless strife and hostility," Cyrus said, returning his Weavile. "I am seeking the power to create the ideal world. The world as it is now cannot change because it is held in a balance, is this not so?" He looked to Aggie.

"How the hell should I know?" Aggie said, wincing as Saylee bandaged up his arm. "World looks pretty balanced to me. I mean, we _saw_ imbalance when Groudon and Kyogre got pissed off, so compared to that I'm pretty satisfied with the world the rest of the time. So you can take your creepy-ass questions and shove them up your—"

"What a pointless attitude," Cyrus said. His voice wasn't scornful; his tone was, as ever, flat, blank and factual. "You fail to appreciate that the world is incomplete. I will change the world." Worryingly, his Golbat was nodding along with what he was saying. "As the first step, I will destroy these cave paintings that the town of Celestic has protected these many years."

"Are you crazy?! Okay, obvious question, but still," Aggie said, glaring at the Golbat as it spread its wings. "These paintings are over six thousand years old! You don't just destroy shit like this!"

"Sally, Spark!" Saylee called as the Golbat swooped on them. Sally leapt to intercept in, crackling with electricity.

"Gareth, make a barrier to protect the paintings!" Key ordered. Gareth stepped back next to Aggie, raising his arms to form a pink wall of psychic energy.

"A new legend of a new world should take its place," Cyrus declared as his Golbat sank poisonous fangs into Sally's shoulder. The Luxray sparked again to knock it out. "Am I wrong?"

"Well, _yeah_ ," Aggie grumbled.

"Sally!" Caelin cried, running to the Luxray's side as she collapsed with a moan of pain. Sally's shoulder had swollen huge and purple where the Golbat had bit it.

Saylee pulled out an antidote and went to heal Sally. Cyrus narrowed his eyes on her. "I know you, Sar Saylee of Kanto," he said. "I have been forced to take notice of you. Why would you, of all people, want to protect this incomplete world? Your country destroyed itself and emerged a dying wreck of a land full of dying wrecks of people. You cannot see this as an ideal world!" He returned his Golbat, finally noticing that it was not getting up again.

"No, it's not ideal," Saylee snapped. "And that's because of people like _you_ , who use humans and Pokémon like tools and dispose of them when they're inconvenient!" She stood and glared at Cyrus as Ephraim and Caelin advanced on him, snarling. "Maybe one day there will be an ideal world. It's not going to be quick, and it's not going to be easy. But it's going to be a hell of a lot easier once we're rid of people like you!"

"You force my hand," Cyrus said, releasing a Murkrow. "Drill Peck!"

"Caelin, Ephraim, get back!" Saylee cried as the large, powerful Murkrow viciously attacked them. The half-fighting type princess and the grass-type Ephraim were knocked down.

"Raiden, Shockwave!" Key ordered. The little ghost zapped forwards and blasted out a wave of electricity. It knocked the Murkrow out of the air with a screech of pain, but unfortunately it also knocked down Saylee, Key, Zoe and Tashigi.

Black dots swam across Saylee's vision as she lay paralyzed on the rough cave floor. She could blearily make out that Cyrus had dropped to one knee in time to avoid the wave. _He's fast_ , she thought dizzily, helpless to do anything but watch as he returned his Murkrow and took a step towards her. _Dammit, I need to_ move…

Then the pudgy brown form of Buddy trotted past her, baring his large, strong teeth at Cyrus. "Back off," he snarled.

"That's right," Terra said, plodding up next to him. "You leave _this instant_." She fired off several razor-sharp leaves at Cyrus, cutting his hands and cheek.

"…Remarkable," Cyrus said, so softly that Saylee almost missed it through the ringing in her ears. "Still, your attitude has told me what I need to know. If the beings of time and space are brought together, they can't be stopped…" With that, he turned and left.

"Are you guys okay?" she heard Aggie asking Key. "Oi, Key, get up!"

"…tingly," Key said weakly.

Saylee slowly managed to twitch her arms into movement and was lifted into a sitting position by Gareth. "Key… are you… okay?" Saylee asked, jerkily patting her own chest.

"Fine, fine… not feeling very heart-attacky, don't worry," Key said, making Aggie look incredibly worried.

"Rai sorry! Rai sorry!" Raiden apologized repeatedly. "Rai trained hard to control! But Rai ANGRY!"

"It is… okay, Raiden," Caelin grunted, weakly sitting up with Terra's assistance. "He is defeated and fled, like the coward that he is, and the cave is safe."

"Hey, are you okay?" Aggie asked, staring at Caelin. "You're kinda, uh, covered in blood."

"These are not injuries," Caelin assured him. "These are our oaths to avenge the twelve slain by that… _connard_ …" She touched the pink flower tentatively. "…and his foul minions."

"Nobody died today, at least," Saylee sighed.

Caelin smiled at her. "Yes," she mused. "We are bruised and battered, but unbeaten. We are growing _stronger_."

"Yeah, but for now, all of you idiots need a healing machine," Aggie pointed out.

"C'mon, let's go find Dawn and your fellow blood knight," Key agreed.

"I'm not as aggressive as _Lance,_ " Saylee objected.

"You are notably not denying that you are kinda aggressive, though," Aggie pointed out.

"Shut up and get me to a hospital."

{ _Jinua 30_ _th_ _, 7:00 pm_ }

{ _Celestic Town}_

"Sir Lance saw a man with blue hair leaving the town and left to follow him, y'know?" Dawn said, when asked why she was sitting inside of the community centre alone by the time that Saylee, Key and Aggie got out of hospital a few hours later.

"Asshole," Saylee muttered. "Oh, Dawn, this is Aggie. Aggie, Dawn."

"'Sup," Aggie said, nodding at Dawn and waggling his fingers at her. His left arm was in a sling that he had somehow managed to doodle obscene drawings on in the half-hour that he'd been wearing it. "I'd better go tell Professor S that the cave paintings weren't damaged. She's obsessed with those things. In a kinda good way. I mean, those cave paintings are the oldest trace of a human presence on the entire planet, and if you don't think that's awesome, get out."

"They're awesome," Key agreed as Aggie led them into the museum hall huge old community centre, "but what actually _are_ they?" The hall was full of displays of ancient artefacts; under their feet, beneath a thick layer of duraglass, was a complex mosaic in faded colours.

"This used to be the floor of the cave," Aggie said, pointing at the mosaic. "They moved it here to protect it. Those caves are full of paintings and carvings by at least forty different people, or so I'm told by people who know art. Basically, we think it was the world's first art gallery, the exhibition theme being 'gods'. We leave as much stuff as possible in the cave for public viewing, but we move stuff here if it needs restoring or if it's got dicks on it. Yeah, you laugh like you think I'm joking."

"I've read about this place," Dawn said, stopping to peer down at part of the mosaic depicting a triangle made up of three linked dark blue circles. Each circle had a tiny figure in it—one pink, one yellow and one light blue, all with a red dot at their centre. "I think it's romantic that some of the first traces of humanity are art."

"And dicks," Aggie muttered quietly, steering them away from a display room with an open door. Through it, Saylee glimpsed a stand with a rusty knife and a sign with the word "sacrificial" on it. "It's all Pokémon. People back then worshipped even the weakest Pokémon as powerful magical beings. There's even a couple of statues in honour of _Magikarp_ , of all things, although I guess they're a bit more badass if you think of them as Gyarados-in-waiting. Anyway, we know a lot more about Pokémon these days, so we don't worship _all_ of them—unless you're REALLY obsessed—but we do know that Pokémon exist on a level that you can call godlike."

"Like Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza?" Key suggested.

Aggie nodded. "Nobody's arguing _that_ after Sootopolis," he said, keying in the entry code to a back room. "They're worshipped in Hoenn because Hoenn is made of two things; volcanoes and beaches. Up here in the mountains, they're a little more ethereal."

"Everyone I know's thrown an offering into one of the lakes to get luck from a lake spirit at least once," Dawn said, stopping to stare at a statue of a very male Bidoof. "Mostly before exams, y'know? And everyone says that if you stand between two mirrors, Giratina's gonna steal your soul."

"I've even heard that superstition in Kanto," Saylee said, edging carefully around a table covered in half-restored artefacts.

"Everyone's done it at least once at a sleepover or on a school trip, y'know?" Dawn said, rolling her eyes. "The only thing that I ever saw happen was Barry jumping out from behind a door, wearing a Duskull mask. Loads of people believe in Dialga and Palkia, too, even though they've never been seen…"

"They're the masters of time and space, lass! They live outside of observable dimensions!"

Saylee couldn't see the speaker at first, and looked around in confusion before she spotted Aggie looking down with a resigned look on his face. She followed his gaze to see a tiny, stooped old lady even shorter than her, clutching a large stone vase. The lady had snow-white hair under a hairnet, immensely wrinkled and ruddy skin, and large glasses.

"Go put this away on shelf B-27, young man!" she barked at Aggie, brandishing the vase at him. "And don't drop it, it's forty-five hundred years old! What happened to the caves?"

"They're fine, Professor Shirona, these two drove them away," Aggie said, gesturing to Saylee and Key with his good hand. "The paintings aren't damaged, but my arm's kinda busted, so I dunno if I should be carrying that…" He pointed to his left arm in its sling.

"So? I'm ninety-eight and I can carry it!" Professor Shirona barked. "You're a strapping young man with a good arm! Just be glad those paintings weren't damaged! Interns are replaceable, six-thousand-year-old cave art is not!" Aggie took the vase and left, muttering "think of the credits" repeatedly. Professor Shirona turned her oversized glare on Saylee, Key and Dawn. "So who're you three, eh?"

"I'm Sar Saylee Pryce of Kanto, and this is Lade Key Weaves, a Champion of Hoenn," Saylee said formally. "And this is Miss Dawn Hikari."

"Pryce, eh? Related to that lass Helen at all?" Professor Shirona demanded. "Her young man was a Pryce, wasn't he?"

"Helen is my grandmother's name, yes," Saylee said, trying not to giggle at the reference to her eighty-two-year-old grandmother as a 'lass'. "Do you know her?"

"Lass was born here, before she went gallivanting off with her foreign lad," Professor Shirona said dismissively. "You protected the paintings, eh? Good girls! Those paintings hold important truths, you know!"

Saylee, Key and Dawn quickly stepped back to make space as the old lady barrelled through them. They followed her out to the main museum. "You're Sar Cynthia's grandmother, aren't you, Professor Shirona?" Saylee asked.

"Where is that lass? If she's such a strong trainer, she ought to be here to protect our nation's heritage!" Professor Shirona grumbled. "The heritage of Sinnoh is the heritage of all humanity! Her weird little foreign boyfriend understood that, at least. Still, glad she didn't marry that one. He's not even a knight like the Aaronson lad. She should've married _that_ one. Nice boy, local. Instead she up and marries nobody at all! How's she supposed to be a great trainer without a nice husband to mind the home for her? Or a wife, all the functions of a husband with less of the numbskull, but dammit I want some great-grandkids before I die of bein' too old to be allowed!"

"Cynthia, uh, asked us to return this to you," Key said, goggling somewhat at the old lady while handing over an old, triangular pendant carved out of what felt like bone.

"My grandmother's charm! What's she doing, giving it to strangers?" Professor Shirona said, putting the pendant around her neck and tucking it under the neck of her sweater. "You see that lass again, you tell her to get back here so I can give her what-for!"

"Yes, ma'am," Saylee, Dawn and Key chorused. Professor Shirona _hmphed_ and charged off.

"C'mon, the manager gave me a few days off for my arm to heal, let's go get food," Aggie said, appearing from behind a display case.

"I thought she was the manager," Dawn said, looking at Professor Shirona.

"No, she just runs the place," Aggie said. "C'mon, before she comes back."

{}

{}

 _I am a history nerd who is way too amused by the fact that King James V was a giant nerdbaby who apparently preferred hurley hacket—sledging on a horse skull—to actually ruling the country. It was called hurley haackey if you were sledging on a cow skull. Hurley in general was enjoyed by all levels of society in Scotland for hundreds of years._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Monferno, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados, Rhianne the Rhyhorn_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **AGGIE**_

 _Alder the Lopunny, Brayden the Machoke, Cynric the Medicham_


	25. Chapter 24

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

 _{Jinua 30_ _th_ _, 7:44 pm}_

 _{Celestic Town}_

"She's old and entitled as hell, but she's a genius," Aggie sighed, carefully unwrapping his food one-handedly. "I swear her going on about being ninety-eight years old is to cover up the fact that she's at least five thousand. Either that or she has Dialga in a cupboard somewhere. Hey, maybe that's why nobody's ever seen it." He took a big bite of his burger.

"She seems kinda hard to work for, though," Key said, passing ketchup sachets to Saylee so she could drown her chips in them.

"That's an understatement, but still, this stuff is really interesting, y'know?" Aggie said with a shrug and a wince as he inadvertently jolted his arm. "Besides, I've heard that if you can survive six months with her, you are blessed by the gods and get an A+ on all your modules. And I always get good crowds for my PokéKnights shows 'cause it's not like there's anything else to do here, so I'm making good money, although there was that week when that street magician asshole turned up and practically ran the town. So what the hell are you guys doing here? Last time I called the 'Burg, Norman was complaining about you running off to Sinnoh without saying why." He looked pointedly from Key to Saylee.

"We're looking for the Aqua leader, Archie," Saylee explained. "Well, that was the original idea. Now we've also ended up helping Princess Caelin of Coronet become Fire Lord, blow up Galactic Corp, and find kidnapped kids. All while preventing Cyrus from doing whatever the hell it is he wants to do."

"Well, he keeps going on about creating a new world," Key pointed out. "Some of his followers seem pretty invested in it."

"What does that have to do with the Professor's research, though?" Dawn said despondently. "Or the cave paintings?"

"He's taken an interest in Dialga, Palkia and the Lake Spirits before," Saylee said thoughtfully.

"Theoretically, yeah, Dialga controls time and Palkia controls space, and their power could remake the universe," Aggie said, waving his half-burger dismissively. "But you'd be seriously delusional to think you could _do_ it. I mean, Professor S talks about them being outside of the observable universe, but it doesn't change the fact that the last people claiming to have seen those particular gods have been dead for five thousand-odd years."

"Did Cyrus look reasonable?" Saylee pointed out.

Dawn shivered. "We _have_ to rescue Lucas before the hostage exchange," she begged. "I don't know what they want with the Professor's research and I don't want to!"

Saylee picked up her pokégear. "I'll dial Cynthia and find out when the trains are running again," she decided. "We need to get to Canalave as soon as possible."

{ _Jinua 30_ _th_ _, 8:00 pm_ }

{ _Celestic Town}_

"Well, thanks to that asshole Lance and his copycat bomb scare, it's gonna be five days until the trains start running again," Saylee sighed, walking up the slope to the training park where Aggie had taken Key and Dawn. Key and Aggie had let out their Pokémon to train together. Despite their armour—which, from Aggie's talk about his street performances, was very much for costume purposes rather than actual defence—Key's Pokémon were walking all over Aggie's Lopunny, Machoke and Medicham. Saylee let out hers to join them and give Key's Pokémon a decent challenge to spar against. "But since it'd take seven days to trek to Canalave on foot among all these bloody mountains, which would take us a day past the deadline for the hostage exchange, it looks like our best option is to wait it out for the trains."

"Wait it out?" Dawn complained. "I can't just _sit_ here while my brother's missing!"

"So go run laps of the town," Aggie suggested. Dawn glared at him.

"Be nice, we're camping in the living room of your crappy intern flat for the next five days," Key said. "Or is it a nice flat?"

"Of course it isn't, it's for interns," Aggie said, rolling his eyes. "Wait. Backtrack. When did I agree to let you all camp in my living room?"

"We would gladly accept a challenge in lieu of negotiation," Caelin said, cracking her knuckles and smiling at the PokéKnights.

"We're really more of a _show_ team…" Brayden the Machoke said nervously, clutching his lance.

"You beat the guy who kicked our asses," Alder the Lopunny mentioned.

"Challenging you does not seem wise," Cynric the Medicham agreed, twirling his sword showily.

"You're all wimps," Aggie sighed. "Fine. Enjoy your stay, and don't forget to tip the bellboy."

"And you don't have to just sit," Saylee said to Dawn. "Cynthia told me that the bomber and his commander slipped her, but she managed to retrieve a ton of stolen Pokémon. Pearl's been returned to Di, and…" She held out four pokéballs. "Clefairy, Alakazam and Grotle registered to you, Monferno registered to Lucas, right?"

"Our Pokémon!" Dawn screamed, leaping up and hugging the pokéballs. "…wait. Anya's a Kadabra…"

"Varied experiences are what make Kadabra evolve, though, as Professor Rowan's assistant ought to know," Saylee said with a smile. "Being kidnapped apparently counts. Open them and check on them. I'm sure they've missed you."

Cerrie, Anya, Thera and Christopher were all somewhat groggy on being released, but smiled when they saw Dawn.

"Dawn!" Cerrie cried, the Clefairy's tiny wings fluttering as she leapt into her trainer's arms. "What happened? We missed you!"

"I missed you guys, too," Dawn sniffed, hugging her Pokémon.

"Where's Lucas?" Christopher, the Monferno, asked, looking around in confusion. Dawn bit her lip, starting to cry. Her Alakazam hugged her tightly from behind.

"You will be reunited with him as the others are now," Caelin promised, patting the smaller Monferno on the shoulder, "and soon. We swear it."

"Princess!" Christopher gasped, dropping to one knee as he apparently recognized Caelin. "Your Highness, what is going on?"

"Dawn traded us to thieves to save Lucas," Anya said quietly. "I am not condemning you, Dawn, but… You let both us and Lucas go?"

"I-I didn't!" Dawn cried. "They tricked me… I'm so, so sorry…"

"Don't cry, Dawn," Thera said, leaning against her trainer's side.

"That's right, it's okay!" Cerrie cried, hugging her. "Are we going after Lucas? If we are, I want to help! I mean, I'm not a very good fighter, but…"

"Don't worry, lovelies, we'll teach you to fight," Ephraim promised, winking at Thera. "Don't know if you need help, thought. You all look pretty fierce to _me_ …"

"Time for training now, Ephraim," Caelin cut in. " _Quietly._ "

{ _Darnua 3_ _rd_ _, 12:48 pm_ }

{ _Celestic Town}_

Key, Saylee and Dawn trained relentlessly for the next four days, with Aggie drifting in and out with his PokéKnights to join in. "No wonder you guys are so OP if this is what you do all the time," he yawned at one point, having led the pizza delivery girl up to where they were training for lunch. "Doesn't it wear you out?"

"Eh, I love working towards goals and power increases," Key said with a shrug. "It's brilliant, that moment where you _finally_ master a technique or they evolve. As for Lee, I think it'd drive her nuts if she wasn't doing something constructive. I think she needs to be sure that she did all she could."

"Kinda fatalistic," Aggie commented.

"Not if it's realistic," Saylee said, paying the pizza girl. "Thanks. Okay guys, lunch break!"

"My lady!"

The Pokémon had stopped training, but they weren't moving in the direction of food. Further up the slope, Caelin and Brayden had been strength training by playing catch using Rhianne. The Rhyhorn didn't seem to mind, if her occasional appreciative "whee!" was any indication. They had stopped, however, to stare at Caelin.

The Princess was now about as tall as Saylee, not counting the height of the large, blazing flame on her head. Her limbs were longer, her armoured hide more elaborate, and a long mat of the white fur around her chest extended down her back like a cape.

"Oh, wow! An _Infernape_!" Dawn gasped, rubbing her eyes as if to ensure that she wasn't hallucinating. She had dark shadows under her eyes; Saylee knew for a fact that the girl was sleeping little, instead sitting up all night to read about her Pokémon on her pokédex to ensure that she was bringing out their greatest power. She'd evolved Cerrie into a Clefable, and was trying to work Thera to a Torterra. Thera had been born and raised in a laboratory, and had none of Terra's qualms about her station in life-instead, the Grotle was doggedly focused on helping her trainer rescue Lucas.

"Brilliant, Caelin," Saylee said, clicking open her own pokédex to scan the Princess. "You've made it!"

"You now have the right to challenge your brother, my lady!" Terra said excitedly.

"Awesome," Sally said with a sharp grin. "Do it! You'll be a badass Fire Lord!"

"I would follow you," Christopher said loyally. "You're much cooler than His Majesty. Are you… going to challenge him _now_?" he asked, a little nervously. "Or…"

"No… not yet," Caelin said, stretching her arms and legs and looking somewhat surprised at herself when she managed a high, casual backflip from a standing start. Her dexterity had visibly improved. "We are newly evolved, and our brother has been Fire Lord for six months now. We must train further before we face him."

"Will you be able to catch up to him, though, if he's so much older than you?" Buddy asked nervously.

"Of course she will!" Tashigi said encouragingly. "We train constantly. Somehow, I doubt the present Fire Lord does."

"Indra trains seldom, it is true," Caelin commented, throwing a few punches to test the new reach of her arms. "He has always been the eldest and strongest, and it makes him somewhat lazy. He enjoys the comforts of being Fire Lord and does not battle unless directly challenged, as honour dictates he must. For now, we must find Lucas, we must find Ailie's mate, we must destroy Galactic." She tried a few jump kicks and grinned. "When the time is right, however, he will have no choice but to face me… and fall."

"…you're _so_ cool, Princess," Ephraim said wonderingly.

"Not the comment I was expecting from _him_ ," Thera muttered to Terra.

"He's very aware that she can burn him to a crisp faster than blinking," Terra replied.

"Hey, do I smell pizza?" Sally asked, sniffing at Saylee and Key.

"'Bout time you guys noticed," Aggie commented as Saylee and Key set down the pizza boxes. "I know evolutions are cool and all, but come on. _Pizza_."

"Pizza, and then more training," Saylee said. "We need to see what Caelin can do. On the subject of trains, we're on the first one out tomorrow. It leaves at six and gets to Canalave at half past ten. Early sleep tonight so we can be up at five tomorrow, okay?"

"I wish sunset didn't come so early this time of year," Dawn grumbled, checking her pokétch. "It'll be dark by five. We could train longer than that."

"You're going to wear yourself out at that rate, dear," Tashigi said, giving Dawn a hug. "It's okay. I'm sure we'll find your brother. We know where he'll be the day after tomorrow, at least."

"Tashigi, didn't Titania once say you were looking for something too?" Saylee asked. "You've never really brought it up, so I didn't want to push you, but…"

"Curiosity is a fine thing," Tashigi said placidly. "Titania was… being somewhat fanciful. I used to look after a little boy. His family were living in Hoenn the last time I saw him, but that was… goodness, nearly twenty years ago. I'm sure he doesn't remember me."

"What happened, if you don't mind saying?" Caelin asked.

"A horrible storm… Hoenn's prone to them, even when the gods are sleeping," Tashigi sighed. "I got blown out to sea, lost for a long time… and the first humans I met when I washed up tried to capture me, so I must confess that I was rather frightened away from humans for a long time. I spent some years playing with children, as I used to before…" She shook her head and sighed. "It's a terrible thing. I can't even remember the sweet boy's name."

"I'm very sorry," Saylee said. "We'd be happy to take you back to Hoenn sometime to try and find him."

"We're from Hoenn," Key added, nodding to Aggie. "We could help find him."

"Thank you, but I'm sure he doesn't remember me," Tashigi said, smiling. "It's quite alright. For now, I just want to help find this poor girl's brother. As long as I can protect children, I'm content."

"So like a Togetic," Saylee laughed. "Does anyone else want that last piece of the margherita?"

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 6:15 am_ }

{ _Underground}_

The Celestic Underground Station was empty, aside from Saylee, Key and Dawn. When they'd gotten up at five, Aggie had still been awake, glued to a computer screen as he chatted to a guy in Eterna ("Is he your boyfriend?" "He's another researcher, Key, so shut up and let me thesis." "Are you cheating on Sissi? Aggie, I'm ashamed." "Go get your damn train and never darken my towels again."), the sky outside had been dark and a light snow had begun to fall. It was oddly beautiful, the white flakes drifting out of the black sky, turning the world monochrome for a while. The station manager had been barely awake; she clearly wasn't expecting a rush on the train, and after checking their passes had gone back to napping in her office. The station itself, though underground, was brightly lit, with jazz radio playing softly somewhere and backlit adverts for the local museum. It wasn't well-warmed, however, so the three were huddling around Saylee's jar of fire when the train arrived.

Although the station was empty, the train had come from Veilstone and Pastoria and was packed with people trying to get to Eterna and Canalave. Many of them were tourists, wanting to get to the ships and offshore airport in Canalave.

"Byron said it was already snowing Canalave a good week ago," Saylee said, clinging to a handrail and glaring balefully up at the ceiling grips that dangled too high for her to reach. "I hope his steel-types are alright."

"Isn't Byron the Canalave leader?" Dawn asked. "Do you know him?"

"He's my stepfather," Saylee explained. "Speaking of which… have you talked to your parents since Lucas was kidnapped?"

"Nnnnnnn… no…" Dawn admitted. "I'm scared to tell them what happened, y'know? What if they're angry at me? They've got to be. I let Lou get kidnapped…"

"Professor Rowan will probably have told them what happened already," Key pointed out. Dawn paled.

"Dawn, they can't blame you," Saylee said, leaning against Dawn a bit, the only comfort she could really offer. "You did everything you could. Your Pokémon aren't normally fighters. If you'd attacked those Galactic kidnappers, you could've gotten your Pokémon, Lucas or yourself hurt or even killed."

"I wish I'd trained my Pokémon to fight before…" Dawn said mournfully.

"Why bother, if you're not going to take the League challenge?" Key pointed out. "It's not like you _need_ to fight, either. You shouldn't have to. The police and rangers are meant to deal with this stuff, but Galactic's just managed to screw everything up…"

Dawn nodded, but didn't look too reassured. She spent the rest of the ride fidgeting nervously and not speaking much.

{}

{}

 _I hope you're all enjoying this very special day with somebody very special in your heart… happy BAFTA day, all! Good luck to all the nominees (especially John Boyega for the Rising Star award!)_

 _Also, I probably should have mentioned on last week's chapter and completely forgot: Aggie is a character from the Petalburg Home who has appeared previously as a voice over the phone describing some mythology connected to Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, but it was only a brief appearance._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados, Rhianne the Rhyhorn_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **AGGIE**_

 _Alder the Lopunny, Brayden the Machoke, Cynric the Medicham_

 _ **DAWN**_

 _Thera the Grotle, Cerrie the Clefable, Anya the Alakazam, Christopher the Monferno (Lucas' Pokemon)_


	26. Chapter 25

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 7:00 am}_

 _{Canalave City}_

It was hard to make out any features of Canalave Station through the huge crush of people getting on and off of trains. The people just coming into the station from Canalave were easy to spot; all of them had layers of snow on their shoulders and the tops of their heads.

Pokémon weren't allowed out on the train unless they couldn't go in a pokéball, for reasons of space. The station was another matter. "Gareth, can you make some room, please?" Key grunted, clinging to Saylee's arm with one hand and releasing Gareth with the other. Saylee just clung onto Key and Dawn as tightly as she could until the Gallade managed to clear some space for them to walk.

Once they reached the main lobby, on the surface, they had room to breathe. The floor was tiled with special non-slip tiles, since even when it wasn't snowing the station was often full of sailors coming off of ships and heading home. There was a welcoming infoboard to Canalave, warning them that having fighting Pokémon outside of their pokéballs was not permitted on the streets (Key thanked and returned Gareth) and several small stalls selling things like travel things and food. There were rows of benches set into the middle of the lobby for watching the timetable display, although most of the people sitting on them seemed to be waiting to greet people coming off of the trains. A pale, black-haired man in a long black coat jumped to his feet at the sight of them.

"Dawn!" he cried. "DAWN!"

"Dad?" Dawn gasped, shrinking back a little as the scientist came running across the lobby. "Dad, I'm sorry, I—"

She was cut off by her father wrapping her into a tight hug. Dr Hikari was shaking as he embraced his daughter. "I'm so glad you're alright!" he exclaimed. "When we heard from Professor Rowan what had happened… he said you'd gone to Pastoria, and then that _bomb_ … if we'd lost both of you, I don't know what… are you okay?!"

"I-I'm alright, Dad," Dawn said, hugging him back. "I'll be just fine, I just—I'm so, so sorry—Lou—"

"It's not your fault," her father insisted. "Galactic… they won't be able to get away with their activities anymore. Kidnapping, breaking and entering the Halfmoon Hotel, _bombing_ … oh! Barry's here, he told us about Pastoria."

"Barry's here?" Dawn said in surprise. "Oh… taking on the gym, right?"

Her father nodded. "Thank you so much," he said to Saylee and Key. "Barry said you two were protecting Dawn. I can't thank you enough!"

"Don't worry about it," Saylee insisted. "We're here to help find Lucas. I'll go talk to Byron, but not right now. Don't want to interrupt his gym match."

"So what do we do until then?" Key asked.

"Dawn, we've got rooms at the Halfmoon Hotel," Dr Hikari told his daughter. "Let's go see your mother. She'll be relieved to see you safe."

"Mind if we come with you?" Saylee asked. "I've heard of the Halfmoon Hotel, and I'd like to check it out."

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 7:33 am_ }

{ _Canalave City}_

Saylee's only previous visit to Canalave had been during the summer, when the sun was bright and heat radiated off the streets. The city looked completely different under a layer of snow. Heating elements under the streets and pavements kept them from being buried or icing over, but streetlamps, bridge struts, ships and the frontages of building were all under thick layers of fluffy white snow. They walked down onto the seafront road, where they could see that the sea and sky were an identical dark grey, the rising sun hidden somewhere behind the clouds. It wasn't windy; the sea was so smooth and still, where it wasn't churned by the movement of ships, that at the horizon it was hard to see where the sea ended and the sky began.

"There it is," Dr Hikari said, pointing along the sea front. "The Halfmoon Hotel."

The Halfmoon Hotel was an imposing fifteen-story turn-of-the-millennium structure, in the shape of a semi-circle with the curved side facing the sea to maximise the number of rooms with an ocean view. The top three floors still had construction scaffolding over them, but the lower floors were screen-panelled and had a faint, rolling, rippling pattern running across them, as if the hotel was underwater. The effect was quite beautiful.

"We're in rooms on the eleventh floor," Dr Hikari told Dawn. "Number eleven-thirty-eight." He'd had his arm around his daughter's shoulder the whole way from the station and didn't look likely to let go any time soon, so Saylee stepped ahead of them to open the lobby door.

"We'll meet you up there," she promised, watching them nod to the receptionists and step into an elevator made of smoked glass.

The lobby was airy and spacious, decorated in light blue and roomy enough for a large marble fountain in the middle of the floor and green leafy plants all over the place. A couple of young men in waistcoats and gelled hair were sitting behind the shiny marble reception desk. "Can I help you, ma'am?" the blond one asked.

"We'd like to speak to Mr Adamson, please," Saylee said, glancing at his nametag, which said _Darren_. "We have some questions we'd like to ask."

"We can answer any questions you have about the hotel, ma'am," Darren offered.

"It's not about the hotel," Saylee said patiently. "Please, can we just speak to him?"

The young men exchanged looks. "I'll go get him," the copper-haired one said, getting up and throwing an inscrutable look at Saylee and Key. "If you'll excuse me…" He took a card out of his pocket, scanned it on a pad next to the door behind the desk and went through.

"I must say, I would have thought you'd get the message after the sixth or seventh time," Darren said with a frown.

"The what now?" Key asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Mr Adamson will be through momentarily," Darren said sternly, "but I assure you he'll say the same thing he always says to you people."

"Y'know, I think there's been a misunderstanding…" Saylee began. The door behind the counter clicked open.

"You ladies were asking for me?" a lanky ginger man in a black shirt and yellow waistcoat said as he came through the door.

Saylee surreptitiously looked him up and down. His height made him look skinnier than he was, as did his oddly bulky left shoulder. His left hand was made of bulbous, shining steel; _a prosthetic_ , Saylee figured. _Most people want ones that look the same as a flesh and blood arm, but I know some people like to embrace the artistic possibilities. Or look like an anime character. I wonder how strong that thing is…_

"James said you have some questions," Mr Adamson continued.

"We need to ask you some questions about Fullmoon and Newmoon Island, if that's alright," Saylee said tentatively.

Mr Adamson's large green eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Right this way, please," he said sweetly, leading them down the hallway through a service door. Saylee and Key glanced at each other suspiciously as they followed him down the hall. Kitchen staff that they passed were giving them dirty looks.

"Look, I'm not sure if—" Saylee began, slipping her hand into her pocket for Caelin's pokéball and hiding it up her sleeve.

"After you," Mr Adamson said, ushering them through a door that transpired to lead to the binyard out the back of the hotel. Mr Adamson suddenly grabbed Key by the throat with his left hand and held her in the air, her feet just barely skimming the ground enough to save her from strangulation but not enough to get a foothold. He held her between himself and Saylee, far enough from the wall that Key couldn't get a foothold there either.

"I am sick and tired of this," he spat. "No matter how many times you people come, no matter whether you're in your dumb outfits or not, the answer will always be the same. You can go right back to that bitch Jupiter and tell her that the news is the same as ever; she will find Darkrai and Cresselia over my cold, rotten corpse! You, hands up," he said pointedly to Saylee, who did so, arching her wrist to keep Caelin's pokéball pressed between her wrist and the sleeve of her coat.

"Jupiter?" Key gasped. "You're misunderstanding, let me _go_!"

"Calm down and step away from her, pal," Saylee said, stepping forwards. Mr Adamson squeezed a little tighter, causing Key to choke and Saylee to pause.

"Nope, you turn around and walk away," he snapped. "Then I'll let your friend go."

"If you're not going to listen, then… Caelin!" Saylee yelled, flicking the pokeball high into the air so that the Infernape appeared on the opposite side of Michael . "Get him away from Key!"

"Unhand her immediately!" Caelin snarled, sweeping Adamson's legs out from under him. Key staggered slightly as her feet hit the ground on the way down, but managed to wrench herself out of Adamson's grip before he dragged her down with him. "How dare you!"

"We are _not_ with Jupiter," Saylee said, offering Key a hand up. "Or with Galactic in any way whatsoever. Key, are you okay?"

"Fine, just startled," Key said shakily, rubbing her throat.

"How dare you associate us with their foul likes!" Caelin snarled, starting to spit embers. "We are a princess of Coronet, not a _criminal_!"

Mr Adamson produced a pokéball from his right pocket while flicking the fingers of his prosthetic arm carefully. "You don't want to get into this with me," he said warningly. "Return your Pokemon, or else."

"Whatever that human is saying sounds _most_ disrespectful," Caelin snarled, drawing a fist back.

"Caelin, hold it!" Saylee yelled, putting herself between them. "Look, Mr Adamson, there's been a misunderstanding. I swear that we are not members of Galactic Corp!"

"Prove it," Mr Adamson snapped.

"We think green bowl cuts look dumb," Key suggested.

"Yeah, but any right-thinking human being would say that," Mr Adamson argued.

"And do right-thinking human beings join Galactic Corp?" Saylee pointed out. "Look, let's start this properly. My name is Sar Saylee Pryce, of Kanto. This is Key Weaves, Champion of Hoenn. This is Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet. We're kind of on a roaring rampage of revenge against Galactic for killing twelve of our friends, as you can see from Caelin's blood oaths." Caelin tapped the rusty brown stripes on her face. "We're not here to hurt Darkrai and Cresselia… or their avatars."

Mr Adamson dropped his pokéball at the word 'avatars.' "So you know all about them too, huh?" Key asked.

"Hell, I don't think even the gods themselves know _all_ about them," Mr Adamson said, crouching to pick up the dropped pokéball. "But you… neither of you are avatars." He narrowed his eyes at Saylee, pocketing the pokéball again. "You're not avatars, but…"

"I'm a guardian," Saylee said, "and I'm guessing that you are too."

"…I think we need to start over," Mr Adamson said, putting his left hand in his pocket while holding out his right for first Saylee, they Key, then Caelin to shake (to the princess' visible surprise). "Come to my office and we'll have a drink and talk it out. My name's Michael Adamson, by the way. I'm from Orre. Nice to meet you."

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 8:00 am_ }

{ _Halfmoon Hotel, Canalave City}_

Fifteen minutes later, the three were sat around the counter in Michael's office, which also served as the entryway to his own suite of rooms. He had a large, black wooden desk, a couple of comfortable chairs facing it, about a hundred more leafy potted plants and a bar full of synth alcohol inside of a large globe, which Michael apparently didn't feel that it was too early to crack into. Saylee had returned Caelin after discovering that neither she nor Michael could understand each other and deeming the possibility of misunderstandings to be high. Orre was too far away to have been affected by the same psychic event that gave the Gab to people in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, and it seemed that even though Michael was linked to the gods the same way as Saylee was, he still couldn't understand the speech of Pokemon.

"So Galactic have been harassing you?" Saylee asked as he handed out drinks.

"Yeah," he sighed, tugging his tie comfortably looser. "A _lot_ , y'know? Past few weeks, any time someone's come in with questions that _have_ to be for me, they'd be a member of Galactic trying to bribe or threaten me… sorry I flipped out on you."

"Fair enough, all things considered," Saylee said with a shrug. "The police are no help?"

"Not when it comes to Galactic," Michael said bitterly, sitting on the edge of his desk. "Not that they're bent or anything. I can smell a bent cop a mile off. The vetting process is clearly a hell of a lot better here in Sinnoh than it was back in Orre. But I also know nervous cops when I see them, and every cop here is on the edge. Beat cops aren't happy with the cases they're not allowed to investigate, and officers are giving out orders they don't like. Again, I don't think they're bent, but…"

"Blackmail, maybe?" Key suggested. "Or hostages?"

"I can't find out," Michael said with a shrug, "but I can tell you that Galactic's got a knife to the neck of somebody high-up. They're up to all sorts of shady shit, but every time they're asked the Galactic Corp execs just say 'no idea' and the police drop it."

"They don't seem to know about avatars, at least," Saylee said, taking a sip of her drink. "They're after gods, but we happen to know six different avatars running around the country—one of whom has already ascended—and none of them have been specifically targeted by Galactic. Two of them _have_ been attacked, but that was due to them being connected to Professor Rowan, not anything about the gods."

"Not completely helpful, since they seem sure that Wes and Rui are the key, but anyway," Michael sighed. "They've broken onto Newmoon Island already, see. Didn't find a damn thing, but they wouldn't, given that there's nothing there now but a pool and a ton of feathers. Probably stole some feathers, for all the good that'll do them. Well, the islands only permanently appeared when Wes and Rui went missing on them, so I guess Galactic aren't so dim that they can't make that connection…"

"Can you tell us the whole story?" Saylee asked, leaning forwards. "I'd just like to know about… you said their names were Wes and Rui, right?"

"Yeah," Michael confirmed. "You said you know an avatar that's ascended?"

"Ho-oh," Saylee affirmed. "He was the second one I helped to ascend. The first was Lugia."

"Lugia?" Michael choked, spitting out some of his drink. "Sorry, that wasn't classy. Lugia's alright, though? It found its avatar alright?"

"You sound like you know Lugia," Saylee said curiously.

Michael nodded. "And Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres," he said. "I purified them of their shadow power, y'know. When Cipher corrupted them."

"Cipher… oh!" Key said, snapping her fingers. "They were that organization in Orre, like… nine years ago? Ten? They were said to be stealing and corrupting Pokémon… including _Lugia_?" Michael nodded.

"When… Lugia's avatar ascended," Saylee said, frowning, "he had horrible nightmares about shadows and darkness…"

"Cipher," Michael spat foully. "Is the guy okay now?"

"He's fine, doing well," Saylee promised. "I think he mentioned a 'Michael' once, actually… I can give him your number sometime, if you want to know how he's doing."

"I really do," Michael said, smiling fondly as he took another drink. "I got an exit visa for me and my family for pulling down those Cipher assholes. I mean, do you have any idea how hard it is to get an exit visa out of Orre? You have to prove that you don't have a criminal record, for pity's sake!"

"I'm not familiar with Orre…" Saylee began slowly.

"It's a dried-up wasteland full of dried-out, wasted people," Michael said, spinning the globe and pointing to a brown country south of Unova. "Some people make good—my dad sure as hell tried—but most people spend their lives stealing from each other until they've stolen enough to drink themselves to death. Not synth like this stuff," he added, raising his glass, "that's too fancy and too expensive to make in Orre. Shitheap, remember?"

"I'm from Kanto, I know what you mean," Saylee said, raising her glass.

"What do you mean by real alcohol?" Key asked. "Actually, I never did figure out what the synth part meant. I figured that was what they called everything which was made in special greenhouses, and that's more or less everything, right?"

"Pretty much," Saylee said, looking into her drink. "Lab-modified to get rid of anything damaging or dangerous and be healthy and nourishing. Synth alcohol makes you feel good and builds your confidence without ripping apart your liver or giving you a ridiculous hangover in the morning."

"A _what_ in the morning?" Key asked.

"Lucky," Michael sighed. "Look, the thing about real alcohol is that it makes you feel great, and it's cheap and easy to make yourself if you know how. You can put almost anything in a bucket and brew it right and get alcohol for cheap, then you can drink it all day and not have to care about the shitty life you're living in a shitty country. A hangover is where you wake up the next morning and your throat feels like sandpaper and your head feels like it's been hammered, but so long as you keep drinking and just stay drunk you're fine."

"And liver failure's when you've been drinking for so many years that the poisons and shit in true alcohol gang up in your liver," Saylee added. "Then you tend to die if you can't get a transplant liver. And if you're in a country where you can't even get synth alcohol, you sure as hell can't get a transplant."

"Why would you _do_ that to yourself?" Key asked, staring suspiciously into her glass.

"Living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland or a criminal hellhole…" Saylee said with a shrug. "Also, water in Kanto, until recently, was pretty severely toxic. When I was a baby, I hear, it was so bad that you'd die instantly if you drank it. By the time I was a teenager… it'd still chew up your insides and have you puking blood in the end, but at least it was filterable. But the thing about alcohol is that it kills bacteria and germs and stuff, so, in the short term, drinking alcohol instead of water actually gave you a longer lifespan." She took a grateful sip of her drink. "Really good for cleaning injuries, too. Regardless… I know where you're coming from, about Orre being a shithole," she added to Michael.

"To be fair, I think you just beat me out on shithole homelands," Michael said with a shrug. "At least the water in Orre's clean, when you can get it." He reached out and fondly touched the broad green leaves of the nearest potted plant reverently.

"If Kanto had actually had any sort of police service running when I was growing up, I'd probably have a solid criminal record for theft too," Saylee continued. "Food is a bitch to get in Kanto."

"Yeah, Orre too, given how there's almost no farmland… anyway, beating Cipher got us out, which was sweet," Michael said. "Wes and Rui got out with Rui's family for beating Team Snagem and Cipher four years before, which was why they weren't around for Cipher when it revived, I found out later. I got in touch with them… Rui and I get along really well. She's the nicest person, and _way_ chattier than Wes, who's a little... I mean, it was like a year before he'd even say 'hi' to me. He's not that rude, really, just quiet as hell, he only really talks to Rui. Anyway, three years ago, when Wes went missing and nobody would believe Rui, she panicked and called me…"

{}

{}

 _And thus it is confirmed that the events of_ Pokémon Colosseum _and_ XD _were A Thing in this 'verse, in perhaps slightly altered form, ten years before the events of Platinum. In case anybody cares, I put Michael as presently being about 19, Rui at 26 and Wes at 28; this is putting Wes at 18 and Rui at 16 during_ Colosseum _, and Michael at 13 during_ XD _(the events of which took place at the same time as_ After Armageddon _, and_ Colosseum _four years before). Evidently, Lugia took the whole Shadow Corruption thing much harder than Ho-oh did… Anyway, yay for the first character of the Orre set appearing and our heavily predictable Orre OTP on display! (And yeah, we know that Michael's left arm isn't a prosthetic-at least, we know it's not in the games, who can tell what's happened to him since?-but Saylee's never seen a Snag Machine before.)_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Ferne. Species: Floatzel. Nature: Naughty. Ability: Swift Swim. Location: Route 218._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados, Rhianne the Rhyhorn_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	27. Chapter 26

_Saylee—Pokémon: 17 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

 _{Three years ago}_

 _{Canalave City}_

" _None of them believe me!_ " _Rui raged. "They keep saying that we couldn't possibly have stayed in that inn, because it's been abandoned for centuries thanks to all the ghosts, but I swear that's what happened! There was a nice old man with long white hair at the reception desk, plushy carpets, a really big soft bed…" She paced back and forth, wringing her hands and looking far more agitated than Michael had ever seen the usually chipper girl._

" _Rui, I believe you, chill!" Michael insisted, looking up at the dilapidated inn. It certainly didn't look like a building full of plush carpets and soft beds. A Haunter flew out of one of the walls and out over the bay. "C'mon, let's go look around that inn…"_

 _They searched the ten-story hulk for five days without finding a single sign of Wes. They went through every nook and cranny of the hotel and the overgrown grounds around it twice. They even searched at night, but the visions of soft beds sadly didn't reappear. Eddie, Michael's Umbreon, couldn't find Wes' scent. Every time Rui tried to release Enver, the Espeon that had been Wes' but had more or less become Rui's, Enver refused and retreated back into her pokéball. There was something in the hotel that she didn't like, but they couldn't figure out what—she was usually fine with ghost-types, which were wandering around in abundance, none of whom had seen Wes either._

 _On the night of the new moon, however, things changed._

" _I'm really sleepy…" Rui murmured, staggering drowsily towards the door out of the collapsing third-floor room that they were searching before slumping down against the wall._

" _Yeah, you've barely slept the past five days," Michael pointed out. "Did you sleep before I got here? Hey, you can't sleep here!" he yelped, watching her curl up on the dusty, filthy floor._

" _Just a little…" Rui murmured, falling asleep._

" _Hey, hey!" Michael yelled, shaking her shoulder, but Rui wouldn't wake up. He sighed and sat down next to her, looking around the rotting room._ Probably best to just let her sleep, _he figured._ She's gotta be _really_ tired, and we've all slept in worse. _He kept nervously looking at the holes in the ceiling in case something came dropping through it, but everything stayed quiet and peaceful._

 _After a couple of hours, Rui began to stir. "Good, c'mon, if you're so tired, let's go find a real hostel—" Michael began, but she ignored him. Slowly, mechanically, she got up and started walking towards the door. "Where are you going?" Michael demanded, grabbing her arm. "Hey, Rui!"_

 _Rui didn't turn to look at him or pay any attention to him. Her eyes were still tight shut, and she was still fast asleep. She was sleepwalking._

Hold on, she said that Wes sleepwalked out of the room… _Michael realized, holding onto her arm but letting her walk._ Maybe this'll lead me to him…

 _Rui stepped through the doorway to the room. On the other side wasn't a hallway, but a forest path. Rui walked slowly down the path, stepping over exposed roots and rocks without opening her eyes. Michael clung to her arm, looking around, but he couldn't see a thing; it was a new moon and the night was dark. He could smell trees around him, and water too, a lot of water. The path was oddly soft under his feet; when he kicked it up a little, something soft and fluffy tickled at his legs. He looked down to try to squint at it and noticed that pink glows were spreading under Rui's feet._

 _It was feathers. Soft, fluffy pink feathers coated the ground, and everywhere Rui stepped, they started to glow. The glow slowly spread until Michael could see around them a little better. They were on a straight path through a forest too dark and dense for the gentle light of the feathers to penetrate. Pokémon began to be drawn to them out of the forest, hissing and snarling at Rui and Michael. A Golbat shrieked and flew directly at them, fangs bared._

" _Eddie, use Dark Pulse!" Michael yelled, releasing his Umbreon. Eddie smacked down the Golbat with a wave of black energy. He sniffed the air and then licked Michael's hand._

" _Bree?" the dark-type said curiously, looking at Rui._

" _I don't know, but Rui seems pretty determined to keep going," Michael said, clinging onto the woman's arm as she strode down the path, lighting the feathers under her feet. More Golbat swooped at them. "Get rid of these guys!" he yelled, pointing at the Golbat._

" _Bree!" Eddie started blasting Golbat out of the air before they could reach Michael or Rui._

 _Rui walked steadily until the path opened up into a large clearing. The clearing had a crescent-shaped pond in it, in which pink feathers floated. Floating over the pond was…_

 _He had no idea what. It was large and elegant, with a blue-and-gold curved body and beautiful pink sashes flowing around it. Rui raised her hands as she walked towards it, shaking Michael's hand off of her arm when he tried to hang on. The creature bowed its beautiful, golden head towards her. When they touched, there was a brilliant, blinding flash of white._

" _Rui!" Michael yelled, rubbing his eyes to get the flashes out._

" _Bree UmbreeON?" Eddie whimpered. He was lying on the ground with his paws over his head._

" _I dunno, but… Rui!" Michael yelled, running over to the pool. Rui was floating faceup in it, deathly pale but with her eyes wide open. She gasped sharply, then started to laugh, thrashing her arms and yelling at something only she could see._

" _Eddie, smell for Wes!" Michael ordered, wading out into the water. "Rui… Rui!" he grabbed her and dragged her into the shallows, trying to calm her down, but she kept thrashing and yelling, shivering violently._

" _Bree!" Eddie snarled, growling at Rui. His ears and tail were standing right up, and every ring on his body was glowing. "OnON!"_

" _Rui! Dammit… can you knock her out or something?" Michael asked, struggling to pick up the violently struggling Rui. "At least calm her down?"_

" _Um…_ bree, _" Eddie said, cocking his head in confusion. Michael got out his Pokénav, swearing when he failed to get any phone signal._

" _Dammit, I can't carry her like this… Duarte!" He released his Dragonite and held Rui up towards him. "Carry Rui!"_

" _Niiite?" Duarte asked, hefting Rui into his arms easily._

" _I don't even know, we need to get out of here," Michael said, returning Eddie and climbing onto Duarte's back. "C'mon, let's go."_

" _Dradrago," Duarte said, flying up into the air. "Dragoniiite?"_

" _I dunno where we are, Duarte…" Looking down on the island, it was just a small circle of forest around the crescent moon-shaped pool. The island was glowing pink from the shining feathers. The sea around it went to the horizon._

 _The only other landmass around was another island. There was another pool on it, shaped like a crescent moon, facing the opposite way from the island they'd just been on. While the island they'd been on was glowing, however, the other island, aside from the pool, was deepest pitch black, as if it was sucking light away._

"… _draaaa," Duarte said, shivering._

" _Yeah, reminds you of the shadows, doesn't it?" Michael said, patting Duarte on the neck. "Don't worry, we don't have to go down there, we can… Hey!" Rui was struggling violently in Duarte's arms, and suddenly wrenched herself out of them, falling towards the island._

" _Catch her!" Michael yelled. He clung to Duarte's back as the Dragonite dove sharply, catching Rui just above the tips of the pitch-black trees. She had calmed down significantly, despite the fall; she was giggling slightly, staring vacantly at nothing, but at least she wasn't thrashing anymore._

" _The island's calming her down…?" Michael said wonderingly. He looked down at the pool below. "Hey, somebody's floating in there!"_

" _Dradragoniiiite," Duarte said nervously._

" _I know you don't want to, Duarte, but we have to," Michael said. "Wes might be stuck down there. Besides, we have Rui. You can't go dark with Rui here, remember?"_

" _Niiiight…" Duarte sighed, and gripped tightly onto Rui as they descended onto the island. He hovered over the pool, unwilling to descend into it, holding Rui close. Michael slipped off of his back and splashed into the water towards the floating body._ Good thing it's summer right now, and the nights are warm…

 _It was Wes. He was so pale that Michael could barely make out his tattoo, and shivering badly. He was also looking thin and starved; his head was tilted slightly, with the corner of his mouth in the water, probably the only reason that he was alive if he'd been lying unconscious for the whole fifteen days. Just like Rui, he wouldn't wake when Michael shook him and called out to him._

" _Dammit… oh, hey, signal!" Michael said in surprise when his Pokénav beeped. "I can call an ambulance!"_

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 8:45 am_ }

{ _Halfmoon Hotel, Canalave City}_

"They spent about a month recuperating in hospital," Michael explained. "Rui was better a bit before that, but Wes had the starvation to recover from and… well, when they were first put into hospital, they tried putting them in separate rooms, but when they did, Rui had crazy hallucinations and couldn't sleep. They gave her enough sleeping drugs to conk out a Honchkrow, but nothing. Wes wouldn't wake up and had horrible nightmares."

"You said that Cresselia rules dreams and Darkrai rules nightmares right?" Key asked Saylee.

"Yeah… but their powers cancel each other out, supposedly," Saylee said with a thoughtful frown.

"They were fine as soon as they were put in the same room," Michael explained, pouring himself another drink. "I mean, they're pretty much inseparable anyway, so honestly it wasn't like being together 24/7 was anything new to them. While they were in hospital, I found out that this place was available for practically nothing, so I bought it. People said it was too haunted to use, but I figured that probably wasn't the case anymore. My mom and little sister lived here with me until recently."

"Are they alright?" Saylee asked with concern.

"Oh, yeah," Michael said quickly. "When Galactic started making trouble around here, though, I suggested to Mom that maybe she oughtta take Jovi to Unova to check out a couple of Universities there that she wants to go to. We can afford it—hell, we can afford anywhere. This place has done really well, we get ghost tours and supernatural enthusiasts all the time, like five TV shows and a bunch of movies have filmed here, kept a whole wing in ruins just for that… Anyway, there's just no need for them to be around while Galactic are making trouble, y'know?"

"You're really responsible, running the hotel at your age," Saylee said in admiration.

"Eh, my mom really runs the place, and she's got a bunch of well-trained managers handling things in her stead," Michael said, rubbing his head. His red hair spiked up hugely when he did so, evidently needing some vicious taming to make it look halfway respectable for the clients. "I'm just the pretty face on the door. And the bouncer. Rui and Wes live here, since I decided to go the whole hog on the guardian thing and give them the top suite."

"How'd you find out you were a guardian, anyway?" Key asked.

"Well, while I was clearing up the dregs of Cipher, I got a funny feeling," Michael explained. "I followed it and found a guy locked in a cupboard who had no idea where he was… or _when_ he was, he asked me what date it was. When I told him I'd just kind of sensed where he was, he said that I felt like a guardian, then explained what that meant, helped me kick some Cipher ass, then vanished into thin air in a kinda green flash of light. It was freakin' weird. I felt like I'd seen him somewhere before, too."

"Tall guy, blonde hair, really nice matching scarf and headband?" Saylee asked. Michael nodded. "That would be Celebi's avatar. Time-traveller. He didn't quite get the hang of it when he first ascended. His avatar sickness jerked him back and forth across all of time for about a week, and then when he was trying to do it deliberately it… took him a few months of trying before he could get the hang of going where he wanted."

"At least Wes and Rui don't do that," Michael sighed. "Wes tends to accidentally spread around nightmares any time Rui's away overnight, though. At least, I think it's accidentally. Guy can have a kinda whacked sense of humour. When Rui's on her own, she's fine. Usually gives all the guests nice dreams. But neither of them's left their room for a few months now… officially."

"Because of Galactic?" Key asked. Michael nodded.

"What do you mean, 'officially'?" Saylee asked suspiciously.

"A few months ago, Galactic came asking about Fullmoon and Newmoon Island," Michael explained. "When I told them where to shove it, they tried breaking into the hotel. Freaked Wes and Rui right out. They bailed and I haven't seen 'em in a while, though they text daily, so I know they're alive even if I don't know where. Galactic have tried breaking in three more times since, and sent several bribe attempts to me, so they seem to think that Wes and Rui are still here. I decided to stay here since I didn't want 'em following me if I went looking for Wes and Rui, and anyway if those Galactic assholes think they're here they won't be looking for them anywhere else."

"Which would be why you flipped out at us," Saylee sighed. "Could you maybe describe Wes and Rui for me? So if we see them, y'know…"

"Well, Wes is tall—like, _tall_ ," Michael explained. "He looks skinny, but he's not really, I swear that it's just because he's like six foot five or something. Kinda sandy hair, dark tan skin, orange eyes, and this white stripe tattooed across his face. I hope he's getting some concealer on that thing, it's kinda distinctive. Rui's way shorter, but she's still taller'n you."

"Doesn't exactly narrow it down," Saylee said, rolling her eyes at Key. "I was just saying it before you could. By the way, just so you know, you're all freaky giants. Most people my age in Kanto aren't as tall as you freaks."

"We get it, malnourishment, you win on the 'whose homeland sucks more' stakes, remember?" Michael said. "Okay, here are some more of Rui's distinguishing features. Bright green eyes, dark orange hair, eight-month baby belly."

"Oh," Key gasped. "She's pregnant?"

"Galactic don't tend to give their hostages sticking plasters, let alone prenatal care, hence why they panicked and bailed when Galactic attacked rather than blowing shit up, which is normally Wes' style," Michael explained. "Rui's grandparents are pretty stressed about whether or not to call a doctor when she goes into labour—she's sure as hell not leaving for a hospital. We're pretty paranoid since one break-in featured a Galactic guy disguised as a delivery guy and another starred a woman who'd been in my damn staff for more than a year."

"But she's got to go to hospital!" Key insisted. "Surely she'll check into one when it's time?"

"When was her last prenatal checkup?" Saylee asked.

"'Bout three months ago," Michael sighed. "All was healthy then, and she hasn't been ill or had pains or anything, at least not that she's told me…"

"I can talk to my mum about finding and helping her," Saylee suggested. "Kanto went eighteen years without a single functioning hospital and people managed to have kids alright. Most of the time. We can keep her and the baby safe without risking them falling into Galactic's hands."

"Seriously? That would be the best thing," Michael sighed, grinning in relief. "I dunno if I'll be able to get 'em to trust your mom, though. Paranoid, remember? I'm only even vaguely trusting you because you've got that weird kinda guardian aura. But hey, maybe Wes and Rui'll clock that…"

"In exchange, can I ask a favour?" Saylee asked. "We've identified three avatars… well, four, but one of them is, I suspect, completely able to look after herself. But the other three are all kids. One of them just walked into your hotel. We need to ask for you to keep them safe, if we can bring them here."

"Three kids? Shit," Michael said, downing his drink. "Won't say no. It's not like I'm not fending off Galactic day in and day out anyway. Can you describe 'em? I won't take notes, not with Galactic breaking into the building on occasion, but shoot."

"Dawn's fifteen, she's got black hair and dark eyes, and she's with her parents right now in room eleven-thirty-eight," Saylee explained. "Her brother Lucas is thirteen and has been kidnapped by Galactic, but they don't seem to know what he is. They're exchanging him for Professor Rowan's research data tomorrow night, so they should be in Canalave sometime tomorrow and we'll find them when they are. The third's a lanky blond kid named Barry. I think he's about fourteen or so. He's having a gym battle against Byron just now… Dawn's already left a message with him asking him to come visit once he's done, so he'll be in soon. All three of them are avatars, but I'm not sure of what yet…"

"Gimme your number, we need a guardian-avatar phone tree or something," Michael said, tapping the number she recited into his Pokénav. "Great. I'll keep an eye out. And, seriously, something you need to know about Wes and Rui…" He scratched his head again. "I mean this in the best possible way, but Wes is desert trash. He's capable of living off the land in the freaking desert, he can do it easily here in Sinnoh, he can stay away from other humans _forever_. He's also paranoid as hell… probably shouldn't have told him about that time Cipher replaced an entire town full of people with agents. First time you see them, you call me before you approach them to give me time to call them and explain, and please try not to take it too hard if he goes for your throat like I did. He's not going to let anyone he doesn't trust anywhere near Rui, and he doesn't really trust people."

"What about Rui?" Key asked.

"Wes has saved her life a bunch of times, so she tends to think that he can do no wrong," Michael admitted. "She can see auras, by the way, so she's more likely to trust you guys, and Wes _does_ tend to listen to her, but chances of you getting anywhere near her without Wes' say-so are probably slim. Knowing her, pregnant or not, she wouldn't say anything against Wes' plan of action unless she's actually in pain-she trusts him to look after her, and he _will_ , just... I'm just hoping that some maternal instincts kick in soon, you get me?"

"We get you," Saylee promised. "I'll talk to Mum. Oh, and Dawn doesn't know she's an avatar yet. I'll explain it to her properly after Lucas is recovered, but for now..."

"Keep 'em inside, keep 'em safe, don't tell 'em why?" Michael said, raising an eyebrow. "Eh, I've taushitted my way through worse."

"Thanks," Saylee said, sighing in relief. "C'mon, then. Let's go up and talk to Dawn. Then we'd better go see Mum and Byron."

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 9:10 am_ }

{ _Canalave City}_

As soon as they stepped out of the hotel, Saylee got the sensation of being watched—and followed.

"Key, you know the way back to the gym?" she asked quietly.

Key nodded. "What's up?" she replied quietly.

"Start heading off to the gym and then double back once you're a couple blocks away," Saylee replied. "We're being followed. Might just be you, might just be me, might be both. Just nonchalantly head off and I'll go the other way." Key nodded and strolled away in a random direction. Saylee got out pretended to check her pokégear, watching Key go. Nobody was following her, but somebody was definitely lurking by the traffic lights, watching Saylee.

She veered off down an alley that ran between two buildings, cursing as she spotted somebody leaning against the wall at the far end. He stepped forward to block the end of the alley. She heard the footsteps of the person following her and turned, just as she felt someone grab her shoulder. She tried to duck under the grab, reaching into her pocket for one of her pokéballs, but to her surprise rather than ducking under her assailant's arm she ran into their— _her_ shoulder, and Saylee was slammed backwards against the building.

"Sar Saylee Pryce, huh?" the woman holding Saylee said smoothly. The assailant was a petite woman, no taller than Saylee, which was why for once Saylee wasn't able to escape her reach. She had Saylee pressed against the wall with her left arm. Saylee saw the glint of a knife in her right. Behind them, another guy casually leaned across the entrance to the alley, blocking the view of the two women from the street. "Isn't this special. You can't imagine how much I want to cut you right now." The woman grinned sharply. Her wavy, snow-white hair fell over one of her eyes, but the other had a malicious glint that made Saylee rather surprised that she wasn't already bleeding.

"Got a specific reason, or just for shits and giggles?" Saylee grunted, trying to inch her hand towards her pokéballs. She quickly realized that she wouldn't reach it without drawing the other woman's notice, but Saylee's own knife was in reach of her other hand…

"Could be because I… drifted apart from some of my coworkers, and by the time I got back in touch with them, they were all in jail," the attacker said conversationally.

"Rocket, Aqua or Magma?" Saylee asked, equally conversationally. "You know that trying to murder me in broad daylight is just going to get you busted too?"

"I'm not going to _kill_ you," the woman said, looking surprised. She wiggled the knife. "I'm just enjoying the fact that I genuinely could right now if I didn't mind getting arrested, which is more than some of the idiots that the boss promoted above me managed. I mean, if Ariana hadn't been screwing the boss…"

"Oh, ex-Rocket then," Saylee said, glancing up and down at the woman's black outfit. "I assume you're ex-Rocket. Either that or you're out of your mind."

"That's between me and my mind," the woman said, stepping back. "You can chalk one up to paranoia there. I mean, we've only been out of Orre for a couple of months and I spotted _you_ , can you blame me?"

"I have no idea who you are, aside from an ex-Rocket," Saylee said honestly. "I probably could have walked right on by you without ever knowing you existed if you hadn't accosted me."

"Yeah, that was stupid," the woman said, lowering her knife. "So let me give you a little good info. If you're not in this city for me, you're running around after Galactic, right? I mean, based on the fact that you've been involved with every major crime ring breakup in the past five years…"

"Yes, I am," Saylee said cautiously. She straightened up a little, trying to see if she could get an inch on the woman. She was used to staring down people a good bit taller than her; the ex-Rocket being closer to her height paradoxically made her much more uncomfortable. "Why?"

"Well, I have Galactic to thank for my hubby and I getting a free pass out of Orre, as it happens," the white-haired woman said with a wicked little smile.

"Is it just normal for people in Orre to greet each other with assault?" Saylee muttered.

"Only people we don't trust," the woman said sweetly. "And if you're smart, you don't trust anybody in Orre. _We_ sure didn't trust the four idiots with ugly hair that broke into our place. Their red-haired ringleader got away, but we got the three flunkies she was with. I tell you, If she was the brains of the operation, their average IQ must have been about 45… trying to break into _our_ place…"

"Why, are you and your husband both criminals?" Saylee asked.

"Well, yes," the woman said, rolling her eyes. "But the police in Orre very kindly turned a little blind eye to us and a couple of friends hitching a ship out when we gave them those Galactic thieves… and told them what information they'd been looking for."

"How did you know what information they'd been looking for?" Saylee asked. The woman spun her knife pointedly. "I'm going to skim over that to asking what information they were looking for."

"Have you heard of Shadow Pokémon?" the woman asked, folding her arms.

"Pokémon with corrupted hearts and controlled minds," Saylee said quietly. "It's not well-known, but shadow corruption could even affect god Pokémon…"

"Yes it can," the woman said, arching a delicate white eyebrow. "And… well, there's more to it, and they were very, _very_ interested in that."

 _The power to corrupt and control a god…?_ Saylee thought. _They murdered and stole at the Ruins of Alph… they trawled over the ruins of the Sky Pillar… and they went all the way to Orre…_ "Did they find any of the information?" she asked.

"Sweetie, I'm amazed those fools could find their feet to put their shoes on," the woman said, rolling her eyes. "But if there's any real brains in that organization, I'm thinking it's not a good idea if they're running around with Shadow Pokemon, you get me? And I figure that that's more important than me not actually doing anything illegal just now. So, you willing to forget I'm here if I forget that you piss me off?"

"Deal," Saylee promised. "You know my name. What's yours?"

"Yuki's all you're getting," Yuki said, pocketing her knife and turning to leave. "Now get back to interfering with people. C'mon, boys."

The guy from the end of the alley gave Saylee a little wave as he walked past. He was wearing goggles, for some reason, and had messy green hair spilling out from under a weird blue hat. The other, with sunglasses and spiky blond hair, just nodded at Saylee before the pair fell in step behind Yuki.

Saylee stood and watched Yuki cross the street, strolling quickly and smoothly down the road until she reached a ridiculously tall man in a long, furry coat. The man had to be over seven feet, at least a foot of that lurid red-and-white afro. He nodded and said something to the two other men before the four of them headed off.

 _They'd_ need _police immunity to move around without getting arrested,_ Saylee thought in surprise. _I can't believe she called_ Galactic's _hair stupid…_

{}

{}

 _Happy twentieth birthday, Pokemon! I caved and bought Pokemon Yellow again. I'm so fucking weak._

 _Since we confirmed that the Orre cast of characters do exist, I had to briefly confirm the existence of a few of my favourites, who are largely my favourites due to Luckster's fantastic Miror B RP blog, currently "tmbnonsense" on tumblr. Yuki is her creation and I just had to have her cross paths with Saylee at least once XD The character of Yuki Hana and interpretations of Miror B, Trudly and Folly used with permission from Luckster._

 _I've been a little split to the moment of posting about whether or not to actually have the POkemon saying their own names rather than more generic noises, but in the end I went for it emphasizing that Michael can't understand exactly what his Pokemon are saying. Since the fics are otherwise angled to the perspective of people that CAN understand Pokemon, no need to really worry about if it's annoying or not since it won't be turning up much again XP_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados, Rhianne the Rhyhorn_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **DAWN**_

 _Thera the Grotle, Cerrie the Clefable, Anya the Alakazam, Christopher the Monferno (Lucas' Pokemon)_

 _ **MICHAEL**_

 _Eddie The Umbreon, Narain the Ninetales, Shomer the Starmie, Berger the Breloom, Duarte the Dragonite_


	28. Chapter 27

_Saylee—Pokémon: 17 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

 _{Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 12:00 pm}_

 _{Canalave Gym, Canalave City}_

"Here y'go," Byron said, projecting a holomap all across the gym floor, allowing them to zoom in closely to the multiple layers of the three-dimensional map of labyrinthine tunnels. "This is a map of Iron Island."

"The mining island?" Saylee asked.

Byron nodded, waving his hand through a set of tunnels that were bright red. "These tunnels are the live tunnels," he explained. "They're connected to seams that we're actually mining."

"That's maybe a fifth of them, though," Key said, looking at the tangle of black tunnels that took up most of the map. "What're these, then?"

"Abandoned," Byron explained. "This is the map of them as they were built. But since being abandoned, most of them have collapsed, been dug through by wild Pokémon… they won't look much like this any longer. The island's a way to the north, just over the horizon from Canalave. Just out of sight, but not that far, really. Supply ships in and out are frequent, since some guys just stay in the barracks there if they don't have onshore family. I used to live out there 'til I married your mother."

"So you think someone could sneak out there and hide there?" Key asked. Byron nodded.

"We can set out on the morning ship tomorrow and sweep the mines," Saylee said. "Oh… what's the phone signal like there? I'd like Professor Rowan or someone to be able to contact me as soon as the rendezvous point for trading for Lucas is set. Then we can know for sure if we're barking down the wrong hole or not."

"Relays are always set up into the mines as backups in case something happens to our radios, but I don't know how functional they are in the abandoned tunnels," Byron grumbled. "I'll see if I can't scrounge up some guys to search with you. There's a hell of a lot of tunnel to search."

"Why don't you take all your Pokémon with you?" Johanna suggested, bringing them all tea.

"Thanks, Johanna!" Key said, accepting her cup. "You mean the Pokémon we've sent here? Caelin's army?"

"They've been training very hard, you know," Johanna said, passing cups to her daughter and husband. "Most of them have evolved at least once. I'm sure they'd be very happy to help search, at least if the Princess asked them to. They often talk about how surprised they are that a Princess respects the powers of other species enough to use them in her army. And I think the only one who _isn't_ utterly livid about poor Belle's death is your new Floatzel."

"Ferne," Saylee said, gazing down into her tea morosely. "Well, she never met Belle."

"The rest are all determined to get revenge for her, though," Johanna sighed. "They're quite, quite angry. So I suppose anything that gives them a chance to attack Galactic, they'll be chomping at the bit to join in."

"Well, here's hoping they keep it in mind not to hurt the kid," Byron said with a frown. "They can raise hell after that boy's safe."

"Caelin and the others went to hang out with the Pokémon we sent back, didn't they?" Key said. "When we take them dinner, we can tell them to drum up some search parties for tomorrow."

"I just hope we find him safe," Saylee sighed, clutching her warm cup. "I have a bad feeling…"

Johanna gave her daughter's shoulders a comforting squeeze. "I'm sure you'll find him alright," she said encouragingly. "Have you had any luck finding the Aqua boss yet?"

"We keep getting close, then he slips us," Saylee muttered.

Key frowned sadly into her cup. "Do you think it's true?" she asked. "That he might've joined Galactic? I mean, destroying anything except Marc wasn't the _goal_ of Aqua. He really didn't seem like he wanted to hurt anybody..."

"Galactic might've offered him protection from arrest," Saylee theorized. "You haven't heard anything, have you, Ron?"

"There is a rumour going around that Archie Irving's joined Galactic," Byron agreed, "but there are all sorts of rumours about who might be in Galactic. People who are in the know about what Galactic are up to are getting paranoid about who might be working for them. Rumour is at least one Leader or Elite is one of them…"

"Cynthia's certain that at least one Leader's Galactic," Saylee confirmed. "She's investigating just now."

"Are you supposed to be telling a Leader that?" Byron asked, raising an eyebrow and pointing at himself.

"Keep it under your helmet," Saylee said, smiling and putting a finger to her lips. "I know you're not Galactic. If you were, you'd be a threat, and if I knew you were a threat, you'd already be in a body cast. You're picking them better these days, Mum."

"Good to know, dear," Johanna said, taking a placid sip of her own tea. "I'm sure you'll find Irving before long. No smoke without fire, as they say… if he isn't part of Galactic, he's probably mixed up with them somehow. Seems like everybody is these days, in one way or another..."

"Well, hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get that kid out of the mix," Byron sighed. "Anyway, if you're splitting up into parties, best to have four. The main tunnel branches off four ways, see, so…"

{ _Darnua 5_ _th_ _, 5:30 pm_ }

{ _Canalave Gym, Canalave City}_

"You have all progressed magnificently," Caelin said, walking up and down the line of Pokémon, called to attention by Miller, who was now a Machoke. Sheri had hatched into a Beautifly, Maya and Ailie were Azumarill, Beric a Bronzong, Ghada a Seaking, Melina a Medicham and Penelope a Rapidash. Rachel had evolved twice, all the way up to Gardevoir. The newest catch, Ferne the Floatzel, was sitting somewhat apart from the others, but she'd been there less than a day. She peered almost shyly at Caelin.

"We've been doing a lot of training in the Iron Islands," Miller said proudly, crossing his arms and flexing his bulging muscles. "The Pokémon there are tough as nails."

"Congrats on your evolution, m'lady," Penelope said, bowing her horned head deferentially to Caelin. "When're you goin' to challenge the Fire Lord?"

"Soon," Caelin said. "But first… if you have trained on Iron Island, you are familiar with its caves, yes? We are told they are labyrinthine."

"The abandoned mines, my lady?" Beric asked, the carvings on his body shifting to form a thoughtful face. "We know them well, yes."

"As well as can be expected," Rachel sighed, crossing her spindly arms over the red horn in her chest. "The older ones collapse on occasion, and the Onix and Graveler living there regularly dig out new tunnels. They're ever-changing."

"When was the last time you were in them?" Terra asked.

"'Bout three days ago, I guess," Miller said thoughtfully. "We don't go every day. There's mining ships in and out every day, though."

"Good," Sally said with a nod. "We'll need all of your help to search Iron Island."

"Old mines are always full of great mining places," Zoe agreed. "If they're hidden anywhere, it's there."

"Who?" Ghada asked curiously.

"We're looking for a human boy named Lucas," Gareth said, closing his eyes and touching his hand to Rachel's to share a psychic image. The Gallade and Gardevoir, together, were easily able to resonate and amplify to send Lucas' image to all of the Pokémon. "He has been kidnapped by Galactic, who intend to effect a hostage exchange after dark tomorrow night. We will find them first."

"If there are any unwilling to engage in this mission," Caelin said, "speak now, please."

"I'm not particularly capable of searching the mines, Princess," Ghada said, flipping her fins pointedly, "but I'll swim around the outside of the island to keep watch."

"Good Seaking," Miller barked. "Anybody wanting to duck out?"

"I'm not a fighter," Cara offered, "but I'll come along to keep everyone in good health."

"Thank you, Cara," Caelin said, nodding to the Chansey, who blushed. "Remember; Sar Kanto and Lady Weaves are the humans and the strategists. Obey their orders."

"Yes, Princess," the Pokémon chorused.

Jumpy, Johanna's Kangaskhan, came waddling out of the house, with her baby, Hoppy, squeaking and waving to everyone. "Dinner's ready!" Jumpy boomed. "Come and get it!"

"Dismissed!" Miller shouted. The Pokémon scattered, heading for the gym to eat with Byron's Pokémon. Ferne, however, hung back.

"This is a surprise," Ferne said, bowing her head to Caelin. "The Gyarados who recruited me told me I'd be fighting for 'Princess Caelin', but I didn't realize you were the Bloody Lady."

"Come again?" Sally asked.

Ferne nodded to her too. "They say that the Bloody Lady intends to conquer all, Pokémon and human alike," she said, "and that she rides into battle on the back of a powerful Luxray that they call One-Eyed Sal, defended by a psychic warrior and a master swordswoman."

"Sounds like you have a rep, 'One-Eye'," Zoe said, batting at Sally's ears with her lower wings.

"Sounds cool, doesn't it?" Sally said, sounding pleased. "Call me Sal from now on."

"All of that is true, save for the conquering all… and now, too, the master swordswoman," Caelin said, touching the rose over her ear. "She is… gone now. Slain by a bomb laid by Galactic. She is the most recent of our lost twelve."

"My condolences," Ferne said sincerely. "I just wanna say... it's cool to be fighting with you. A lot of people talk about revenge not being the answer, about how you should forgive all, but… I don't think that's always right. Not facing people like Galactic. Somebody needs to dive into the fire and blood to protect others from the likes of them, and I'd be honoured to do that with you. I'm amazed you were even interested in recruiting me… I mean, you have a _Gyarados_. Next to a Gyarados, Pokémon like me must look so weak…"

"Of the many things we have learned from Sar Kanto, perhaps the most important is that there are no weak Pokémon, only untrained ones," Caelin said with a smile. "Our mighty Merida was once a wretched little Magikarp. And all Pokémon have their strengths and weaknesses… even we. You, a water-type, could destroy us… which is where 'Sal' comes in." Sally grinned and flicked a spark off of her tail. "All of you are powerful, and all of you are necessary. _All of you_."

"You're an inspiration," Ferne said, grinning back, "and it makes me hungry!" She bowed and loped off to the gym.

"Are you coming, m'lady?" Zoe asked.

"Go on ahead," Caelin said, shaking her head. "We will be along presently."

Zoe and Sally exchanged a look before heading into the gym. Sally took a last look over her shoulder before she stepped inside and saw the Princess taking off her circlet, running a finger around the crystalline stone and lingering over the burned red rose.

{ _Darnua 6_ _th_ _, 6:00 am_ }

{ _Canalave Bay}_

Early the next morning, long before sunrise, they set out on the morning mining ship, which was so packed with miners on the day shift that Saylee and Key kept all of their Pokémon in their pokéballs and stuck close to Byron, who as the local Leader and mine chief carried a circle of respectful space around him. The dark waves sent freezing spray up onto the deck of the boat, while the moon sat low on the horizon before them, slowly being eclipsed by the dark shadow of Iron Island.

"I've circulated the description around these guys," Byron said, shouldering his shovel as the boat docked and miners began to file off of the ship. "We'll pass it around everyone else, even the guys coming off-shift in case they've seen something." He led them off the boat and released Sakhir, his Bastiodon.

"We're here?" Sakhir said, looking up at the dark island. "Hey, you girls be careful in those mines. The wild Pokémon down there… they're alright, just kinda rough, and tend to forget humans ain't made of rock."

"Don't worry, we'll have Gareth, Ephraim and Merida with us," Key assured him. "They can handle it."

"We'll need to make sure to send Ailie, Maya and Ferne off in different groups," Saylee said, lifting the lid on the picnic basket full of pokéballs she'd brought with her. She and Key started picking out and opening pokéballs, releasing their various Pokémon onto the floodlit Iron Island docks.

"Hey… what's that house?" Zoe said, flying around one of the floodlights to look up the slope.

"There's a name on the door… R. Aaronson?" Sally said, peering up after her. Saylee looked up to try and see the house, but the floodlights made it impossible for her to make anything out in the darkness.

"Oh… that's Riley's," Byron explained. "Sir Aaronson, properly, but I guess he's like you, Saylee; doesn't really go by the title much. Anyway, he lives and trains here full-time with Luke, his Lucario. He's kinda weird, but _damn_ strong. Gets called out sometimes for… I dunno, ranger missions where they really need a guy who can read auras?"

"An aura reader?" Caelin said curiously. "Perhaps he could help us locate our quarry."

"House looks empty," Zoe reported, flying back down.

"He'll be down the abandoned mines somewhere," Sakhir said. "Maybe you'll run into him."

Saylee paused before releasing Merida, looking at the rough slope into the mines. "Hey, are any of the tunnels large enough for a Gyarados?" she asked Byron.

"Sure, I think one is," Byron said. "The Central Shaft. The other paths all branch off of it, but you can keep going on down to the old drill pit. It's pretty impressive in a terrifying way. At some point about four hundred years ago, there was a project to just keep drilling to see how deep they could go. Don't know how deep they got, but there's records in the Canalave library if you're ever interested."

"Maybe later," Saylee said, turning to her Pokémon. "Okay, we need to split into four groups, and since there's a lot of ground and rock-type Pokémon down there, better have at least one water-type in every group," Saylee said. "Miller, you'll be with Ailie, Penelope and…"

"Wasn't Dawn going to come?" Terra asked Key.

"Well, we kinda told her we weren't going to go looking until the actual handover date tomorrow and convinced her to stay in the Halfmoon Hotel with her parents until then," Key explained somewhat sheepishly. "Barry's there too. Michael 'accidentally' unlocked all of the pay-per-view video games and movies, so Barry's got her into a marathon of classic comedy movies to take her mind off things and so long as Dawn's parents are supplying popcorn, they'll be content enough to stay there. They'll be safe."

"Alright, groups, MOVE OUT!" Miller called once Saylee'd divided them all up. Byron gave Saylee a hug and wished her luck, then descended into the live mines with the other miners, while the rest of them headed into the abandoned mines.

{ _Darnua 6_ _th_ _, 8:00 am_ }

{ _Iron Island, Canalave Bay}_

The machines in the live mines blasted heat and noise down the abandoned tunnels, so they were warm for a while, but after the groups had split up to go into the deeper tunnels, the noise started to die down, and soon they'd descended below the heat to where it kept getting colder until their breath misted in front of their faces. The Pokémon drifted closer and closer to Caelin and her immense body heat, while Saylee and Key huddled close to Saylee's jar of fire.

"It's only if it starts to get hot again that we need to worry," Saylee said, nervously watching Merida wash aside some Graveler. "How _deep_ did they mine?"

"Byron did say that somewhere down here, they dug down just to see how far they could go," Key said, keeping an eye on the Pokémon. "Buddy, we need to stick together, don't wander off!" she called to her Bidoof, who'd gone wandering curiously down a side path.

"Sorry," Buddy said, turning around to come back.

There was a distant _roar_ and a blast of heat—from the _lower_ tunnels. A second later, the ground shook violently flinging them off of their feet as the cave walls cracked and shook.

"Key, return your Pokémon!" Saylee screamed, stowing the jar of fire in her coat pocket and returning all of her Pokémon as fast as she could while clinging onto the pokéballs two-handedly so as not to drop them. Once all but Rhianne were away, she ran to cling to the side of the sturdy rock-type, edging in behind her protruding shoulderplate. Key joined her a moment later, and the pair of them waited out the quake with the steadfast Rhyhorn.

When things seemed to have settled, Saylee stood up, coughing and batting off dust and grit. "Did something collapse below?" she coughed, squinting around the tunnel, now pitch-black without her fire and Caelin.

"Something collapsed up here, too," Key said, pointing her Pokénav flashlight to the wall of rocks and earth covering what had been the route back to the surface.

"I can smash it," Rhianne offered, trundling around to face the cave-in.

"I'm sure you could," Saylee said quickly, "but better not to. We could bring the whole thing down on our heads…" She frowned at the "X" on her pokégear screen, indicating a lack of signal. "We may have to wait for the miners to dig us out."

"Hey… what's this?" Key said, holding up one of her pokéballs. The button was blinking red.

"It's a critical health warning," Saylee said, examining the pokéball, relieved to see that it wasn't damaged. "It means that one of your Pokémon is seriously injured and shouldn't be released before being healed. You've got lucky timing. If they were injured any worse, the ball wouldn't have returned them at all."

Key released her other Pokémon, counting out Terra, Ephraim, Tashigi, Raiden and Gareth. "Buddy's injured," she said, looking at the flashing pokéball.

"That was a fright," Tashigi said, peering around in the dim glow cast by a combination of Raiden's sparks and Caelin's fire. Saylee brought out her jar of fire again to add to the light. "Where are we?"

"The same place as before, but trapped," Gareth said, pressing a hand to the collapsed wall. Saylee released her Pokémon and brought them up to speed.

"Have we no option but to wait?" Caelin asked as Zoe flew down the dark tunnel to scout.

"Going deep into caves you don't know without knowing your way out is like Team Magma and Aqua," Saylee said, "incredibly dumb and dangerous."

"We could be here a while, though," Sally said, her good eye's iris turning red and her sclera yellow as she peered at the collapsed wall. After a moment, she blinked and the colours switched back to normal. "It's too thick for me to see through."

"Guys," Zoe called, flying back. "I talked to some of the cave Golbat. They say there's another exit somewhere below, and other humans further down. They're pretty pissed off at humans, though. Apparently the other humans below caused the collapse…"

"Other hu _mans_?" Saylee said, noting the plural. _Not just Riley_? "Humans caused the… it was an explosion? A _bomb_?" she deduced incredulously, remembering the blast of heat that had preceded the earthquake. "What kind of _idiot_ sets off explosives in a _collapsing mine_?"

"Did you mean, 'who traded their brains for green bowlcuts'?" Key asked scornfully. "They could have Lucas! We have to go down there!"

"Will it be safe for you to go below, though?" Sally asked them. "If they're all pissed off at humans…"

"That's what I'm here for," Merida said, looming down over them.

"We have faith in you, Merida," Caelin said, patting the Gyarados' side. "And you too, Ephraim and Gareth."

"Then, shall we?" Terra said.

"This is a bad idea," Saylee sighed as they started off down the tunnel.

"Isn't it always, though?" Key said with a shrug.

{}

{}

 _A lot of my boxed Pokemon wound up getting evolved around the time I hit Canalave simply because I'd played quite a ways ahead of what I'd written, and I try not to play too far ahead so whenever I wanted to play for a bit I'd just level grind instead of progressing the story until my writing caught up. You can probably tell that I got pretty bad writer's block at the time XP_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Olivier. Species: Onix. Nature: Sassy. Ability: Sturdy. Location: Iron Island._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Puck the Togetic, Merida the Gyarados, Rhianne the Rhyhorn_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	29. Chapter 28

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 7_

 _Key—Pokémon: 8 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 6_ _th_ _, 12:00 pm}_

 _{Iron Island, Canalave Bay}_

The mines were a tight, dank maze of twisty little tunnels, all alike. Caelin's retinue hit a fork in the tunnel and spent some time sitting in front of it, watching Raiden and Sally zap pissed-off Zubat while Zoe and Ephraim tried scoping out the two paths.

"I can't see any clues," Zoe said, flying back from her tunnel. "Nothing to indicate whether or not they're down there…"

Ephraim came back a moment later, shaking his head. "Can't smell a damn thing through all of the dust that's been stirred up," he said apologetically. Saylee nodded, chewing her lip and staring down the tunnel that Zoe had been scoping out.

"Lee?" Key said, snapping her fingers in front of Saylee's eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Oh… nothing," Saylee said, shaking her head.

"Something was calling to you," Gareth murmured. "I couldn't hear it, but I could hear that you were receiving _something…_ "

"Hey, yeah! Lucas is an avatar, and you can sense stuff to do with them, right?" Key exclaimed.

"I can't really _sense_ for certain," Saylee hedged. "I just have a vague feeling…"

"Do not underestimate your senses," Gareth encouraged her. "Your intuition may be affected by your sensitivity to avatars. Trust your intuition to lead you to him."

"Okay then… this way feels right," Saylee said, nodding down Zoe's tunnel. They started walking down the tunnel, following the downwards slope past dead-ended digging tunnels and perfectly round Graveler and Onix tunnels. Merida washed away most of the Graveler and Onix that angrily waylaid them, assisted by Ephraim, while Raiden and Sally zapped down angry Golbat. A few gangs of Machoke passed through, handled by Zoe and Gareth.

"I just hope we don't run into the Ruler Under The Ground here," Zoe said nervously. "There's always one, and they're always the biggest, strongest 'mon around. And all of the Pokémon down here are bigger and stronger than Obelle… I can't imagine how strong their ruler must be."

"Or how angry," Terra said softly. "We must tread with caution."

"If we are attacked, we will fight back," Caelin said firmly. "No Ruler Under The Ground holds command over _us_ , and we will not be intimidated by one."

"What do you think the Ruler Under The Ground here is, though?" Key said. "A Golem? Or a larger Onix?"

"I just hope it's not—" Saylee said, just as a metallic _screech_ resounded throughout the tunnel. Caelin's flame glinted off of a hint of metal ahead. "…Bollocks."

Ahead of them, the tunnel opened up into a humungous cavern, where a tremendous silver Steelix reared up out of a vast pit in the floor and roared at them. Its thick steel hide was so polished that Caelin's flame reflected off of it and all around the cavern. "HUMANS!" he bellowed. "How DARE you attack my caves?!"

"Ruler Under The Ground!" Caelin bellowed right back, striding forwards past Merida to stand proudly in front of the huge Steelix. "We are Princess Caelin of Coronet. These humans are ours, and they are innocent of attacking your caves! We—"

"I am King Sturm, Princess," the Steelix growled. Rhianne protectively stomped forwards in front of Caelin. "What I am not is a _fool_. I know that explosion well! Humans use them to tunnel! This is no problem if they stay in their own caves, but they have _not!_ You come down here, attacking my people and claiming _innocence_?!"

"We were defending ourselves!" Terra cried. "They—"

"SILENCE!" Sturm roared, slamming his tail down at them. There was a horrific crunching noise as he slammed it down on Rhianne and ground her into dust, the shockwave of the blow bowling the rest of them over backwards.

"RHIANNE!" Caelin screeched, rolling to her feet. "You will pay for that, Sturm!"

"Flame Wheel!" Saylee ordered, fighting the red haze of rage. Sturm roared as Caelin sent fire rolling up his body. "Now get out of the way! Merida, use Surf!"

Caelin leapt out of the way as Merida blasted water at Sturm. His superheated steel hide steamed and cracked as the cold water hit it, causing Sturm to roar in agony. "Well done, Merida!" Caelin called. "Now, Sturm, let us pass or—"

There was another roar from Sturm as he burst through the wall of water and wrapped his black, cracking, steaming body around Merida, constricting her tightly. There was a series of brutal _cracks_ and Merida howled, blood gushing from her mouth instead of water.

"MERIDA!" Saylee screamed, trying to return her, but Sturm twisted his body to block the dematerialization beam and continued to crush Merida, tighter and tighter, until, with a final _snap_ , she stopped howling and struggling. "NO!"

"YOU!" Caelin screamed ferally, smashing her fists into Sturm. He roared and dropped Merida's tail as the bottom quarter of his body was smashed right off under a furious storm of blows from Caelin.

"Is she—?!" Key gasped as Saylee ran to Merida. Saylee nodded grimly, gripping a cracked blue scale that was starting to fall off.

Sturm got in a solid headbutt, sending Caelin flying back into the wall hard enough to crack a crater and send stalactites raining down as she fell to the ground. "PRINCESS!" Terra screamed, running to her as fast as the plodding little Pokémon could go. Key scooped up the fragile little green Pokémon to prevent her running into the path of the falling stone.

"None of you will leave here," Sturm growled, raising his stump of a tail. "All of you—"

"Force Palm!"

Something small and blue darted forwards, blasting Sturm back with a single blow. The attacking Pokémon then leapt above Sturm, slamming him into the pit and right through something that made a tremendous, tearing _screech_. Saylee ran to the edge of the pit and saw Sturm vanish into a dark hole at the bottom, smashed right through a rusted metal cover. She could hear him clanging off of the sides of the hole for quite some time. _The hole they drilled just to see how deep they could go?_

She turned in surprise as a man in blue ran up to her and dragged her away from the pit. "Return your Pokémon and run!" he yelled. "This part of the cave is about to collapse!"

"Merida, Rhianne—" Saylee said, returning the collapsed Caelin along with Sally and Zoe. Key and her Pokémon were already gone.

"I'm sorry, but they're dead!" the man called, dragging her off. "Leave now or you'll join them!"

Saylee got one last look back at Merida's corpse before the cave collapse and they were fleeing down a pitch-black passage. Saylee was grateful for the mystery man's grip on her arm as she stumbled blindly over the rough terrain.

"Hold on, Riley," a voice said. "We can navigate in the dark, but can they?"

"I think we're safely away from the collapse," Riley said. The floor was trembling somewhat and they could hear the roar of falling earth and stone, but nothing was falling on their heads. "Do either of you have a light?"

Saylee wordlessly pulled the jar of holy fire out of her pocket and got her first good look at their rescuers.

"Sir Riley Aaronson, right?" she said. The photo in Celestic Town had shown a gawky, wide-eyed boy clutching a tiny Riolu. He was barely recognizable as the man before them, who was still tall, but lean rather than gawky, well-dressed in a durable but stylish blue jacket and dark trousers. His blue hat had a ragged brim that spiked up in a shape much like the ears of his Lucario. Riley's hair was shorter in the back and longer in the front than it had been in the photo, almost hiding his dark blue eyes.

"Hello," Key muttered appreciatively. "Cynthia, Steven and you? _Damn,_ all the hotties hang out in Celestic, don't they?"

"Do you know Cynthia and Steven?" Riley asked, glancing at Saylee. "Actually, sorry if this sounds weird, but are you related to Michael Adamson?"

"No," Saylee said, looking from Riley to his Lucario, which was visibly taller and stronger than Maylene's. She stared at Riley for maybe a moment too long, but she almost couldn't believe her eyes. Another _one? Aggie wasn't kidding when he said Sinnoh's seriously spiritual…_ "Can you read auras too?"

"Yes, I can," Riley said with a nod. "I only asked because your aura was very similar to his. Very strong defensive auras, and profoundly spiritual, in a way not unlike Wes and Rui…"

"Do you know why that is?" Saylee asked pointedly.

"Are you saying that you do?" Riley's Lucario—Luke—asked sharply.

"Luke, if she's like Michael, she's no threat to them," Riley said, scratching his Lucario's ears. "Yes, we know what they are. It's stamped all over their auras, and they're not the only ones. Byron's stepson—"

"We know, he's her little half-brother," Key interjected. "He gave us this cool fire. Let's do proper introductions. I'm Lady Key Weaves, a Hoenn Champion, and this is Sar Saylee Pryce of Kanto, Guardian of the Gods, kinda—what? You pretty much never tell anyone you're a knight unless you're trying to scare them."

"It's not that," Saylee said, taking out the pokéballs of her three remaining Pokémon. "I just don't feel like much of a guardian right now." None of them were flashing, so none of them were too seriously injured, not even Caelin, but… "Merida and Rhianne… dammit. Caelin hasn't been in a good place since Belle's death, either. I know she's determined to keep going, but… she only asked for a new member of the retinue when we sent PUck back to his mother. She still hasn't selected a sixth member, even though I can carry one."

"I'm sorry," Riley said sincerely. "If you don't mind my asking, what are you all doing down here, getting into deathmatches with King Sturm?"

"We weren't trying to get into any fights—not with him, anyway," Key insisted.

"We're looking for a kidnapped boy," Saylee explained. "We think he's down here. And we think his kidnappers set off that explosion."

"Before you ask 'who would be dumb enough to set off a bomb in an abandoned mine', the smart money is on Galactic," Key added as Luke and Riley exchanged looks. "Those guys have been _way_ too trigger-happy lately."

"Galactic were the ones trying to kidnap Wes and Rui, weren't they?" Luke said.

Riley nodded. "Do you think they kidnapped the boy because his aura is similar to theirs?" he asked. "Because I have in fact been tracking a presence like that all morning."

"No, he's a hostage exchange for Professor Rowan's research data," Saylee said. "As far as we can tell, Galactic don't know about avatars. The kid doesn't even have his god yet."

"Really?" Riley said, exchanging perplexed looks with Luke again. "His aura already has the imprint of a human's and a Pokémon's both… although I don't know if I've ever met an 'avatar' without a god, so perhaps that's normal."

"But you grew up with Cynthia, right?" Key pointed out. "Lee, you said she's an avatar too, right?"

Saylee nodded. "I don't know of what yet, though," she said.

"She is? Oh!" Riley said, eyes widening as he looked at Luke.

"Oh!" Luke agreed, mimicking his expression. "That explains it! But…"

"…but the aura below is much more like a weak version of Wes and Rui's than Cynthia," Riley agreed.

Saylee felt a nervous sensation trickled down her spine. "Riley, you need to lead us to him _now_ ," she said. "I don't know what's going on here, but it can't possibly be good. It never is."

{ _Darnua 6_ _th_ _, 1:00 pm_ }

{ _Iron Island, Canalave Bay}_

"There's an old foreman's cubicle around here," Riley whispered, pressing his back to the wall as he peered around the half-rotten wooden support strut at the corner. "There's a light in it…" They'd had to detour broadly around a number of collapsed tunnels that looked to be around the epicentre of the explosion, but Riley knew the tunnels well and was able to keep them on track towards Lucas' aura.

Saylee peeped around the corner at the rusted metal cube that was half-set into the wall. There was a door and a window on one side, allowing the foreman to interact with the miners while still keeping a private space. There was indeed a soft light inside, but she couldn't see any people. A Houndour was sitting guard in front of the door, but it kept sneezing, either irritated by the dust or the damp cave smells, so it probably couldn't smell them.

"Zoe," she whispered, releasing her Crobat. "Scope 'em out." Zoe nodded and flew up to the ceiling, which was high enough up that she was lost in the darkness.

Keeping still and silent and waiting for Zoe, they clearly heard a pair of quiet voices drift out of the cubicle.

"Call."

"Full house. Pay up."

"Son of a bitch!"

"Shut up, will you? Don't need to draw any wild Pokémon in."

"Herry'll let us know if anything shows up. We just need to keep an eye on the boy until it's time."

"Why? He doesn't do a damn thing except sleep."

"Boss' orders. Just do it."

"Why _does_ he just sleep? It's creepy. If he wasn't breathin', I'd think we were guarding a corpse."

"Hell if I know. Boss said not to ask questions, just to wait here until he gets here for the trade tonight."

Zoe fluttered back down, holding an unconscious Golbat in her fangs. She spat it out at Saylee's feet. "He's one of theirs," he whispered. "Two humans sitting down, one under the window, one with his back to the wall. One small human lying down at the back."

"Key, we need Gareth," Saylee whispered. Key nodded and released her Gallade. "Gareth, can you read what Zoe saw in her mind?" Gareth nodded and silently reached out to the Crobat. "Riley, I'm thinking that Gareth can teleport in and get the one by the wall if Luke gets the one at the window."

"Who'll take out the Houndour first?" Riley replied quietly.

"Gareth, can you smack that thing down first and _then_ get the guy inside?" Key asked. Gareth nodded. "Okay then. Go!"

Gareth appeared literally on top of the Houndour, knocking it out so fast that it didn't even have time to yelp. He signalled to Luke, who ran over and took position, crouching beneath the window.

"Did you hear something out there?"

Gareth vanished just as the Galactic grunt peered out of the window. Luke reached up the man, dragging him out and punching him hard in the stomach. There was another gasp and _thump_ from inside of the cubicle. Saylee, Key and Riley ran through the door to see Gareth dropping an unconscious grunt and Lucas lying asleep near the wall. Riley hovered his hand over the boy's forehead for a moment, before scooping him up.

"His aura is extremely weak," the reclusive knight said quietly. "Something's not right. We need to get him to hospital immediately. There's a cave exit onto the back of the island not far from here."

"Gareth, Luke, can you bring the trash with us?" Saylee asked, nudging an unconscious Galactic grunt with her toe. "It's rude to litter, and I have some serious questions for these guys when they wake up."

{}

{}

 _Puck actually died fighting the same FUCKING trainer's Steelix that got Rhianne and Merida, but I decided that he got to be the One Per Fic that got away alive instead of dying. He's gone home to his mama. I didn't want to risk the aggro between Cynthia and Saylee. Ailie also died while I was trying to train her to replace Merida because fuck my life._

 _...but on the upside, I finally got a job offer for a school in Kariya, Japan! If I accept, I'll be there at the beginning of April-fast or what? Looks like a good school, though, and I'm really excited!_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _RIP Rhianne the Rhyhorn, level 24-32_

 _RIP Merida the Gyarados, level 4-37_

 _RIP Puck the Togetic, level 5-34_

 _RIP Ailie the Azumaril, level 20-44_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	30. Chapter 29

_Saylee—Pokémon: 21 Deaths: 11_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 6_ _th_ _, 4:00pm}_

 _{Canalave City}_

The hospital promised that Buddy would be okay after a while, but others weren't so lucky; Sheri, Rebecca and Penelope had all been injured in the collapses as well, and Ailie had been killed. The captured Galactic members admitted that they had set off the bomb to drive away belligerent wild Pokémon, but they said nothing else of use.

"That lawyer turned up again," Saylee explained with a sigh as she met Key outside of the police station and they started walking down the street. "Court. He's too damn good. But I think we were right that he's being pressured somehow and doesn't _want_ to be protecting them, because he didn't look all that upset when they inadvertently confessed to having assisted in the hunt for Mesprit at Lake Verity. I don't think the police believe that's actually a thing. No word on how that hunt ended—Court clamped down on them before they could say anything more—but if they were holding Lucas hostage at the time, and they got near to Mesprit…"

"So… he could've absorbed Mesprit, or whatever it is that happens?" Key asked, shoving her hands in her pockets as a cold wind blew through them.

"I've seen it happen four times, and while the first two came with a great deal of ritual and ceremony, the other two were very much grab-and-go," Saylee muttered, eyes constantly flickering around to the other people walking past them on the pavement. "Given the nature of Lugia and Ho-oh, it could've just been a big ego-stroke on the part of either them or the geisha. If Mesprit was desperate… say, being pursued by humans trying to harm it, even capture it… humans don't go in pokéballs, after all." She frowned. "The three I saw up close also asked their avatar to accept them before they possessed them, too. Lucas would have had to have been willing or offering to help…"

"Wouldn't put it past him, the kid seems sweet," Key said with a shrug. "So are you saying that he's Mesprit now?"

"But somehow… something important's gone…" Saylee sighed, rubbing forehead. "What did the doctors say?"

"They don't know why he won't wake up," Key said, looking a little ill. "He's got some bruises on his arms and legs that mean he was tied up, apparently, and couple of upsettingly boot-shaped lumps… and he's a little underfed, but not horribly. They found quite a bit of his medication for his fits in his system, so he must have had to take it more than once, but… well, I didn't understand all the medical stuff, but there's something about how the symptoms don't match damage from a fit or something, they don't think that's what's knocked him out. He just won't wake up. Heart rate's low, brain activity's basically nothing, and there's this kind of cut…"She tapped the middle of her forehead. "They have no idea what it is. It's small and bloodless, more like a kinda indent than a cut, or an old scar, but his parents swear it wasn't there before. They can't figure out what caused it."

"I'm willing to pitch a guess that it's something to do with or important to Mesprit," Saylee muttered. "It would explain why he won't wake up. The soul of the Pokémon and the human become inextricably linked, so if there's some way to remove Mesprit, or put it in a coma…"

"Sar! Sar Kanto!"

A Lucario darted towards them, leaping over the road and causing several startled drivers to honk their horns at him. He was carrying an egg in his arms. "Aren't you Luke?" Saylee asked, stepping back slightly in surprise. "Sir Riley's partner?"

"Indeed I am," he said, inclining his head but now bowing properly for fear of dropping the egg. "How is young Lucas?"

"…Not well," Saylee sighed. "I'm glad we recovered him, I just wish we could have done it sooner…"

"Riley and I should have known that he was there sooner," Luke sighed, shaking his head. "Still… what's done is done, and we must focus on what we can do now."

"What's that egg?" Key asked, indicating the black-and-blue egg in Luke's arms. "Is it yours?"

"Indeed, one of twins," Luke said proudly. "I kept them because their mother and her trainer travel far more than Riley and I do, but truth be told we don't hatch until our aura finds one with which it can truly meld. This one's twin brother, I gave to a young man whose aura fused perfectly with it. This one's aura is flowing into yours, Sar."

"Mine?" Saylee said in surprise, reaching out towards the egg. She paused, looking at Luke, who nodded, giving her permission to lay a hand on the egg. The second she did, it warmed palpably and began to shake.

"What's going on?" Key gasped.

"It's hatching!" Luke said, sounding pleased. He pressed the egg into Saylee's arms. "As I expected. Don't you dare drop him!"

Saylee clutched the egg, watching it begin to crack and sections of the shell begin to fall out. A tiny black paw kicked out a large section of shell, and Saylee turned the egg so she could scoop the puppy into her arms. He looked like a miniature version of Luke, but without the cream fur patches or the steely spikes. He yawned hugely, pawing at his snout a couple of times before opening huge red eyes and peering up at Saylee.

"Rrrr?" he said. It was almost a growl, but too high and adorable a sound to be called a growl. Saylee melted, cuddling him close.

"What did he say?" Key squealed.

"Nothing, puppy gibberish," Luke laughed. Saylee held the baby out to look at his father. "Hello, little one. Welcome to the world."

"Rrrr?" the Riolu cute-growled again, staring at Luke.

"That's your father," Saylee said to the baby, pointing at Luke. "Father? Daddy? Papa?"

"Paparrr?" the Riolu said awkwardly. Luke grinned hugely.

"Oh, that's _precious_!" Key giggled. She pointed at Saylee. "This is Lee, little guy. Lee?"

"Leerrr?" the puppy said, looking up at Saylee. "Leerrr?" He turned back to Luke. "Paparrr? Leerrr? Paparrr?" He pointed from one to the other, encouraged by their nodding. He looked up at Key. "Rrrr?"

"Key," Key said, pointing at herself. "Can you say Key?"

"Keeyrrr," the little Riolu declared, pointing at her. "Keeyrr, Leer, Papar… Helloooorrr?"

"Hello," Luke said, still grinning. "Yes, those are our names. You need a name too, little one."

"That noise he makes is cute," Key giggled. "That little 'rrrr'…"

"He'll stop making it when he gets better at talking," Luke explained.

"It is cute, though," Saylee agreed. "What about… Roar? It sounds like his little growl, and then, of course, when he's much bigger…" She laughed as Roar pawed at her face. "Hear that? Your name is Roar. Roar," she repeated, touching his paw and pointing at him.

Roar put his paw on his own nose. "Roarrrr?" he said. Saylee nodded. "Rroarrr! Roarrrr!" He looked very proud of himself.

"This is too cute," Key squeaked, sinking to her knees and clutching her chest. "I can't take it. I can't handle it. It's too much."

"Fake heart attacks aren't funny after the Old Chateau," Saylee said, aiming a kick at Key, who rolled her eyes and stood up again.

Roar, looking concerned, reached a paw out to her. "Keyrr?" he asked, jerking back and looking a little frightened when Key let out a shriek-squeal.

"Sssh, shh, it's okay, Roar," Saylee, surprised to feel Roar's twinge of fright in the edge of her mind. "It's okay, the noisy lady won't hurt you, unless your hearing is overly sensitive."

"He'll be fine so long as he's with you," Luke said, stroking Roar's ears. Roar leaned into the touch with a smile and a tiny growl.

"You're just giving him to me?" Saylee asked, cuddling Roar and feeling a slight roll of warm happiness from him.

"Your aura and his suit each other perfectly," Luke said with a nod. "He will only continue to grow and develop properly if he is with you. He should grow quite quickly, I expect. And he seems very happy with you." He smiled. "I know you will do your best for him, Sar."

Saylee couldn't smile. "I don't know if that'll be enough," she said, looking down at Roar, loathe to let him go but fearing to take such an innocent, fragile baby with her. "Not against Galactic. They're too ruthless."

"The mines are no safer, Sar," Luke said sternly. "Galactic has already penetrated the mines once, and there are the additional dangers of mine collapses and the mine Pokémon… Please take him with you, Sar. It's where he wants to be, isn't it, Roar?"

"Leer!" Roar said happily, snuggling into the front of Saylee's coat.

"It sounds decided," Key said. "Just keep Caelin, Sally and Zoe between him and Galactic at all time. They tend to go undefeated."

"True," Saylee said with a little smile. "I'll do what I can to protect you, little Roar." _I just hope it'll be enough._

{ _Darnua 7_ _th_ _, 11:17 am_ }

{ _Canalave Library, Canalave City}_

As the days passed, Lucas slept on and the Galactic members' defence lawyer continued to provide a masterclass in stall tactics. Caelin and Miller trained the army relentlessly under Key's guidance while Saylee searched the extensive Canalave Library.

Her first day of research, however, was interrupted by a knocking on the door of the private research room that she was using. She quickly minimized her search and opened the door.

"Michael?" she said, surprised to see the redheaded hotelier, who quickly ushered in two teenagers, both pale brunettes with dark brown eyes darting around nervously. They barely relaxed when Michael closed the door behind them, looking over their shoulders as if expecting to be followed, which probably wouldn't be hard; the girl was wearing a black minidress with a blue cape and top hat, while the boy was wearing a surprisingly mature red vest suit and blue tie, though with rolled-up sleeves and a number of bracelets. Both of them, she was relieved to realize after a moment, were entirely human.

"Hey, Michael," Saylee said, nodding to the teenagers. "What's up?"

"Thought you could do with meeting these two," Michael said, patting the teenagers' shoulders. "Their names are Phoebus and Diana Court."

"Uh-huh… wait, Court?" Saylee said, staring at the kids again. "Are you Godin Court's kids?"

"We are," Phoebus said, shaking Saylee's hand while Diana swept off her hat and gave a theatrical bow. "Michael said you might be able to help our dad."

"Not a lot of people in the library at this time of day," Michael said, drifting back to the door, "but I'll knock if anybody's coming, okay?" He rapped his knuckles four times on the wall.

"Thank you, Michael," Saylee said. He waved and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Sit down," she said to the teenagers, both of whom were annoyingly taller than her. They were older than she'd expected, probably not much younger than Key. "It's nice to meet you. And surprising, I guess. I half-expected you'd…"

"Been kidnapped by Galactic?" Diana said brightly, tucking her cape aside as she sat down. "Actually, we're pretty sure they've been stalking us for a while, but then then the ones following us got mugged by a couple of punks in an alley pretty much as soon as we got to Canalave…"

"Dad raised us to always call for help if we see somebody getting mugged instead of just ignoring it or running away," Phoebus said, scratching the back of his neck with a nervous grin, "but just this once, we kinda let it slide… then we ran into a friend of Di's who said we oughta talk to Mr Adamson, although he wasn't too happy when we first asked for him at the desk. I thought we were gonna get beat up for a minute, but once we told him who we were…"

"Probably thought for a minute that you were Galactics," Saylee said wryly. "They've been trying to break into some of the private apartments into his hotel for a while. They did try to book your dad there, but Michael knew he was working for Galactic and refused the reservation. I already got the message that he's not _willingly_ working for Galactic," she said quickly as both twins opened their mouths with angry expressions, "but nevertheless they seem to have him pretty compelled to work for them, and trust me, Michael's got good reason not to let anybody who could be running errands for Galactic into his hotel. But if you've already shaken your tails, the Halfmoon Hotel is actually pretty safe for you to stay in, since Michael's security is pretty high-level and very much geared towards keeping Galactic out. He's got the help of the Leader, Byron, too. If we can keep you safe, your dad—"

"—Will probably sleep a lot better at night, but that might not be enough to make him feel safe to quit Galactic," Phoebus interjected. "They might not have gotten us yet, but we _know_ they have other hostages."

"Four, at least," Diana added, ticking them off on her fingers. "Maggie, Basil, Jumana, and almost definitely Milo…"

"And they are?" Saylee asked, opening up her pokégear and taking notes. "Wait… we heard the family of a detective in Veilstone had been kidnapped. Is that them?"

"Maggie, Basil and Jumana, yeah," Phoebus said with a nod. "They're the family of Detective Richard Hawkshaw. Maggie's his wife and Basil and Jumana are their kids. Fifteen and twelve. And about two months ago, they left school in the middle of the winter term, and he claimed it was because his mother was very ill and wanted to see her grandkids, so Maggie took the kids and went to visit her in Johto."

"But His parents died years ago!" Diana exclaimed. "I guess he doesn't talk to his coworkers about his family much, but him and Dad have been really good friends since we were babies at least, so we know Basil and Jumana really well, and they aren't responding to calls or texts or emails or anything!"

"And ever since they went away, he's been getting reprimanded a lot," Phoebus added, fisting his hands on the tabletop. "He's always been a little ditzy, yeah, but he _is_ a senior detective and you just don't get promoted like that if you're going to straight-up _lose_ fingerprints this often, or… just, y'know, silly mistakes that're really screwing up investigations into Galactic. He claims his mind's just wandering because his mother's ill, this soon after his sister-in-law died a few months ago…"

"Melody Hawkshaw?" Saylee guessed. The twins nodded. _He's been to his sister-in-law's funeral because of Galactic this year… he knows how much danger his family are in. Oh, no… does Jenny know what's happening to her cousins? First her mum died, and then her dad got hurt bad enough for her to drop out of the League, and now this… And if the Court family are close enough to his that they know his in-laws…_ "So you think your dad'll keep working for Galactic as long as they have Detective Hawkshaw's wife and kids?" Saylee asked.

"Dad'd rather risk his career than _anybody's_ life," Diana said quietly, unable to contain a slight proud smile. "They could hold anybody over his head, but the fact that it's people he _knows,_ y'know… and they've got Milo, too."

"And he is…?" Saylee pressed.

"A prosecutor," Phoebus said quickly. "Head of the Prosecutor's Office, actually. Milo Hunter. Him and Dad've worked on opposite sides of a _lot_ of the same cases for a good twenty years, and they've known each other since primary school, so even though they're usually on opposite sides of a case they're really close friends, you know? And he's gone missing too. He never goes on actual _holidays_ —he prefers to spread his vacation days out over taking a ton of long weekends, since it lets him relax but doesn't disrupt his work as much, he says—but suddenly, poof!" He snapped his fingers. "He's gone too. For _two months._ His sister's a prosecutor too, and she claims she's been getting emails from him about his holiday, but he hasn't contacted _us_ once and he—" He pressed his lips together tightly. "He would," he said eventually. "And the Prosecutor's Office has been running _slow_ on processing any Galactic cases. I mean, nobody dares question Ms Fates because she's kinda, uh…"

"Terrifying," Diana supplied.

"But it's just not like her," Phoebus finished.

 _Great… with just a handful of hostages, they've got a great defender and they've tied up the police and the prosecutor's office,_ Saylee thought with a scowl. _I guess it's nice that the different branches of the law here have good relationships, but this is too close… Cynthia said they have a Leader too. Who? Not Silver or Byron… Gardenia? There was a Galactic base operating right under her nose… and there's a significant Galactic presence in Veilstone, too. Maylene might be young, but she's very mature and responsible for her age, and they said she's got a younger sister to care for… a sister that we didn't see the whole time we were there… something rubs me up the wrong way about Fantina, too, but maybe that was just the ghosts. We barely met Crasher Wake, but what if he was involved in the Pastoria bomb…? And there are two more Leaders that I haven't even met yet, either of whom could be…_ she shook her head. The twins were staring at her. "Sorry… just thinking," she said. "You came to Canalave to look for your dad, even though you knew you were being trailed?"

"Oh, c'mon, we have a pretext!" Diana exclaimed. "A bunch of our friends are coming to do the island-hop ferry round this weekend!"

"Book into the Halfmoon Hotel with Michael, then tell your friends that one or both of you is too ill to go," Saylee told them. "Give photos of your friends to Michael in case they want to visit so he can confirm that he's only letting people you know well up to see you. Play ill and stay in the hotel. I'm sorry to order you around, but Canalave really is the safest place for you to be…"

"We understand," Phoebus said, looking downcast. "I just wish we could do more to help Dad…"

"If you can get me photos of the Hawkshaws and Milo Hunter, that'll be a huge help," Saylee said, standing up. "Here, let me give you my number…" Phoebus handed over his c-gear for her to enter her contact details. "Trust me," she continued, "it makes more of a difference than you know to know that there's an easy way to no longer have to deal with your dad blocking everything we're trying to do in investigations, especially if we can free up the police and the Prosecutor's Office to do their jobs at the same time. We know what to look for now. Thank you." She handed the teenager back his C-Gear.

"We'll tell them you're ill, Bussy," Diana said, patting her twin on the head, flattening his spiky forelocks. "Maybe if we do, Conrad'll come play his guitar for you!"

"I don't wanna hear that pretty-boy asshole's caterwauling!" Phoebus exclaimed, going as red as his suit. When Diana just giggled, he growled and threw up his hands. "Good to speak to you, Sar Kanto, thank you for your help," he said, quickly shaking her hand and storming out.

"Good luck with Galactic!" Diana said brightly, tipping her hat to Saylee and following her brother out of the room.

 _Great… what time is it in Hoenn, and would it be creepy to call Jenny and ask if she's got any photos of her cousins I can have?_ Saylee wondered, sitting down at the desk again.

{ _Darnua 10_ _th_ _, 10:37am}_

 _{Canalave Gym, Canalave City}_

After four days of investigation, she started making some calls.

"Hey, Riley," Michael said, following Johanna into the living room of the house around the back of Canalave Gym and spotting the knight sitting on the sofa, one of several people with a cup of tea in hand. "What're you doing here? Who're this lot?"

"Sar Kanto asked us all here," Riley said, gesturing to the rest of the people sitting around Johanna and Byron's living room. "Byron and his wife Johanna, I think you know, and this is Professor Rowan, the doctors Hikari and their daughter Dawn, Lady Key Weaves—"

"Her I know," Michael said, nodding to them and leaning against a bookshelf for lack of any more sofa space. "And the Hikaris too, since they're staying in my hotel."

"Barry's supposed to be coming, too," Key said, checking her watch. "Lee just dropped by the library, then she'll be here."

"Quite the odd little assembly we have here," Rowan said, looking curiously at Riley and Michael. "Why, can I ask? Do you know?"

"I do, but this is really Lee's gig," Key said with a shrug. "Although, Michael—" The doorbell rang repeatedly.

"That sounds like Barry," Dawn sighed as the ringing persisted.

"I'll get it," Byron said, getting up and going out into the hall. A minute later, Barry came charging in.

"Hey wassup?" he said, waving at everybody. "Listen can we make this quick? I really gotta be—" he turned to rush back out again, but caught Professor Rowan staring at him. He tried staring the Professor down for a minute, before deflating and flopping down on the floor next to Dawn's feet. "Fine, I'll wait patiently."

"I can see Saylee coming down the road," Byron called down the hall.

"Oh, good," Johanna said with a smile. "We can get a move on, then. It really is important that you know about this as soon as possible. It would be nice if Silver could be here, so you could meet somebody who's already—"

"Sorry I'm late, they don't have a digital copy of this in public access," Saylee panted, running in and carefully setting a huge, heavy book down on the coffee table. Byron followed her in, dragging more chairs for her, Johanna and himself. "Okay. So. I'm here to explain what's happened to Lucas," Saylee said, looking around. "I think I know, I just need to confirm something." She opened the book and started carefully skimming through the pages, lifting each page gingerly between gloved fingers.

"You _know_?" Dawn's father said, leaning forwards. " _What?_ What did Galactic do to him?"

"They took… here we go," Saylee said, getting to the page she was after. She slapped Barry's hand as he reached curiously for the book. "I only got permission to borrow this thing because of the whole Knight of Johto thing. It's extremely old and valuable and I'm pretty sure those librarians will eviscerate me if I let anybody _look_ at it funny. Okay. I need to backtrack a bit first. Have any of you heard of Chronos?"

"A… psychic who lived in Johto a couple of thousand years ago, right?" Dawn said, looking confused.

Saylee nodded. "He had visions of the future," she explained. "Highly detailed visions of gods and disasters. He drew some of them." She turned the book around for everyone to see and pointed at a drawing. It depicted a small figure with long hair reaching up to a riot of colour that looked vaguely like a rainbow squished into the form of a bird. "This drawing depicts the god-Pokémon Ho-oh merging with a human vessel, called an 'avatar'. Chronos drew this four thousand, one hundred and fifty-four years ago. I saw this exact moment take place three years ago."

"You… _saw_ a human _merge_ with Ho-oh?" Rowan said skeptically.

"This is why I wish Silver was here," Johanna sighed.

"I happen to know Ho-oh's avatar," Saylee said pointedly. "He can produce sacred fire, fly if he really focuses on it, and theoretically control the rebirth of lost souls, though I've never seen him actually do it. He has been known to transform fossil DNA into living Pokémon with a touch, however. Pokémon and humans both are inclined to follow him. One day, he and others like him will lead humans and Pokémon alike, fully uniting both species for the first time in our history… according to Chronos, anyway."

"Others like him?" Dawn's mother asked, gaping. "You mean there are other people with… with _gods_ in them?"

"Another boy of about fifteen is Lugia, and a former monk in Johto is Celebi," Saylee said, looking at Michael. "And…"

"Wes is Darkrai, Rui is Cresselia," Michael said bluntly. "All that stuff with those islands, three years ago… no weird coincidence. The islands appeared for them and remain for them—for their masters, Darkrai and Cresselia."

"And there are others out there that will ascend, or may even have already," Saylee continued. "When questioning those grunts, they mentioned that they holed up at Lake Verity for a while. I think, at that time, Lucas harboured Mesprit." She turned to a page depicting the three lake guardians flying around each other, with a glowing sphere in the middle of them. "Perhaps Team Galactic were trying to catch it and it felt that its only escape was to join its avatar. Perhaps it was just timing—Dawn, you said you've been having dreams about Uxie. I believe you're its avatar."

"Wait a minute!" Dawn's father interjected. "This is—ridiculous. These 'gods' are stories, unseen and undocumented by science, they don't actually—"

"Togekiss is largely undocumented by science, but I assure you they exist," Saylee interrupted. "They're simply incredibly rare, and the few to evolve are largely disinclined to be lab rats. These Pokémon are merely much rarer."

"After all, it's not like anybody's ever seen them—oh, wait," Michael said sarcastically. " _I_ have. These ladies here have. Groudon and Kyogre were thought to just be myths, but then what do you think just tried to fuck Hoenn up? A really big Camerupt and a Wailord?"

"Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant, it's true," Saylee said firmly. "Dawn has had dreams of Uxie waiting for her in the middle of a cave…"

"Hold on! You had the cave dreams too?" Barry said, staring at his friend. "That's _freaky_."

"It's not a coincidence," Saylee said, holding the book up to him. "Can you tell me which one you saw?"

"Uh, the blue one," Barry said, pointing with his hand carefully held a foot away from the book.

"Azelf, right?" Key said, looking from the page to Barry and Dawn. "So you three are the lake guardians."

"Dawn and Barry aren't yet, technically," Saylee clarified. "They'll probably call you to them soon, now that Lucas has ascended. And you need to know what that means. It means powers specific to your god, and it means their memories, their intuition, but… the power's a lot for a human to handle. The four avatars I've seen so far all got terribly ill after receiving their god, as their body fought to handle the power that came with it. It comes with a duty, too. People have been given these powers for a _reason_ … to prevent the kind of thing that happened to Kanto ever happening anywhere else. I'll protect you—it's kinda what I _do_ —but screw things up and I can and _will_ kick your ass from here to the top of Mt Silver and back."

"Those kids aren't the only avatars in the room," Michael pointed out. "Hey, Riley, can you see your own aura in a mirror?"

"What?" Riley said in confusion.

"That rock you keep in your house, the crystal that you found in the mines," Michael explained. "I'm not sure what's in it, but it's your god. When it awakes, it will become one with you. That's why you feel driven to protect it, even if you don't know why."

"Cynthia's an avatar too, or will be, and Steven…" Saylee added with a frown. "I… _think_ he is already. But I can't figure out what he is, and he won't say."

Riley exchanged looks with Luke. "That… would explain so much, even though it raises so many more questions," Riley said slowly, continuing to stare at his Lucario as the two had some silent conversation.

"Professor, are you buying this?" Dawn's mother said incredulously.

Professor Rowan stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "Are you saying that Lucas' illness is due to Mesprit's powers?" he asked.

Saylee frowned and shook her head. "No…" she said, turning a few more pages in the book. "It's something else, and I think I know what. It's that cut they found on his forehead, the one that they couldn't figure out. I think something was removed. I think this was removed." She pointed to Mesprit's forehead in another drawing. There was some kind of red orb. "Even in six-thousand-year old cave art, they found space to put in these red jewels. I think they're significant somehow, and Lucas' has been removed, and that's why he won't wake up. He needs that jewel, whatever it is…"

"…Steven had some weird theories about legendary Pokémon," Riley said thoughtfully. "But the kind of weird in that, even if it came out of nowhere, it made sense, you know? He thought Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf being the Pokémon of knowledge, emotion and will was bullshit. He said you couldn't just _create_ those things, and that the three must have some other function. Their caves do form a perfect pyramid with the peak of Mt Coronet; historians have been puzzling over that for centuries."

"Sounds like a summonin' triangle," Byron suggested. "We did those as kids. Rumour was if you put all three Pokémon of an evolutionary line—like a Starly, Staravia and Staraptor—in a triangle, just right, and said the right mumbo-jumbo, a fourth super-evolution would appear. Never worked, obviously, but man did we have fun trying to track down and train Pokémon."

"It's true that no Pokémon evolves more than twice," Professor Rowan said. "Even Eevee, which can evolve into many different things, only does it _once_ —setting aside the Kalos question, of course…"

"Gods come in threes, too, y'know?" Dawn added softly. "All the classic D'Aulaire's triangles, like… Dialga, Palkia, Giratina. Mesprit, Uxie, Azelf. Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza. It's important, it's balanced."

"Could be that Galactic are figuring out a summoning triangle that _works_ ," Saylee suggested. "They saw Lucas ascend. The high command aren't complete idiots. Our stroke of luck is that they have no way of telling avatars from non-avatars. I just hope they aren't kidnapping random kids and throwing them at the lakes until they find Uxie and Azelf. The important thing is to keep _you_ out of harm's way." She looked to Dawn and Barry. "You two will probably have to be Uxie and Azelf soon, if you're up for it. Never known anyone who wasn't, but if you're not, I'm willing to help figure out a way to avoid it. But for now, we need to keep both of you _and_ both of the Lake Spirits out of Galactic's hands. I'm telling you all of this so you understand me very, very clearly when I tell you to _not leave the Halfmoon Hotel under any circumstances._ "

"I've been protecting Wes and Rui from Galactic for months, and I like to think that I'm pretty damn good at it," Michael offered. "Galactic probably don't know that you guys even exist, but just in case, right here's the safest you're gonna be. Galactic will have to crawl over my cold corpse to get to you, and I don't corpse easily. Ask Cipher, they tried."

"We'll help too, o'course!" Byron added. "You got the whole forces of Canalave Gym, here to help."

"Thank you," Professor Rowan sighed. "Hikari, I think it's best if you all take their advice."

"Professor… do you really believe this?" Dawn's father asked faintly.

"Whether or not I do—" Professor Rowan began, looking at Dawn. "Are you alright, Dawn?"

"Dawn, it's okay, we're not going to let anything happen to you," her mother said soothingly, hugging her daughter, who was curled up, clutching her head and crying.

"It's too hot, it's too loud!" Dawn cried. "The fire—it's so scared— _No_!"

There was a deafening _roar_ as the ground shook violently.

"Earthquake!" Byron yelled as pictures fell off the walls and furniture collapsed. "It's a big one! Everyone into the kitchen, under the table and counters!" They stumbled across the violently shaking floor to the kitchen, where they huddled together under the heaviest furniture and waited for the tremors to stop. Saylee put an arm over Dawn's shoulders. The girl was shaking so hard that Saylee could feel it even through the tremors.

"Is it over?" Johanna asked tentatively when the ground finally sat still.

"Stay still for a minute, there may be aftershocks," Rowan said. Byron leaned up and turned on the kitchen counter TV, switching it to the news report so they could watch for updates.

"— _live footage from the scene of the explosion at Lake Valor. The resulting earthquake destroyed the Valor Resort, with casualties in excess of—"_

"Oh no," Key gasped. "They bombed Lake Valor?"

"And this one was a hell of a lot bigger than the ones from Pastoria Marsh or Iron Island," Saylee gasped. "I'm betting that the Pastoria Marsh one was just a test run. They're going after Uxie!"

"They can't do that!" Barry said angrily, jumping to his feet. "I gotta go make sure Azelf's okay! Azelf's my responsibility after all! You guys check on Uxie!" He charged out of the house.

"WAIT, YOU IDIOT!" Saylee yelled, getting up to run after him.

"Luke and I will get him, you need to get to Lake Valor as fast as you can!" Riley shouted, running past her.

"That's not any better!" Saylee yelled after him. "You're also a-!"

Key grabbed her arm. "Saylee, we'd better go check on the Pokémon," the blonde said urgently.

Saylee nodded. "I've lost three Pokémon in the mines, damned if I'll lose another," she said, before turning back to Michael. "Michael, can you please get the Hikari family to the hotel and keep them safe?"

"Count on it," Michael agreed, tapping the pokéballs on his belt. "Keep your eyes out for Wes and Rui for me."

"Will do," Saylee promised, running out the door with Key.

"Be careful, girls!" Johanna called after them.

"Your daughter is running off to a bomb site," Dawn's mother pointed out to Johanna. "Why aren't you trying to stop her?"

"She's gone off into worse," Johanna said with a shaky sigh. Byron put his arms around her, kissing her temple. "And every time she does, she saves the lives of innocent people, and the guilty get _exactly_ what they deserve. I'm very proud of her. The sooner Saylee and Key get to the bomb site, the fewer explosions we'll have."

{}

{}

 _We decided to count the gift Riolu in Iron Island as a separate catch because a) it's a gift Pokemon and b) Iron Island fucking owes me at this point. Happy Easter!_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Roar. Species: Riolu. Ability: Inner Focus. Nature: Brave. Location: Riley._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Roar the Riolu_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Buddy the Bidoof, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	31. Chapter 30

_Saylee—Pokémon: 22 Deaths: 10_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 10_ _th_ _, 11:30 am}_

 _{Canalave City}_

"Sar, what is going on?" Caelin demanded as the humans came running up to the Pokémon gathered outside of Byron's gym. None of them had been injured, but the earthquake had been unsettling, especially because of how badly it unnerved the psychic-types among them.

"That earthquake was not natural," Beric kept muttering. The Bronzong's patterns were glowing erratically in response to whatever they were sensing.

"No, it wasn't," Saylee agreed. "It was caused by an explosion set off by Galactic… much larger than the Pastoria bomb."

"Rr?" Roar whimpered, leaping into Saylee's arms for a hug and burying his face in her shoulder.

"He doesn't stop whimpering every time you leave him with us," Sally told Saylee. "I hate to say it, but you're probably going to have to bring him with. They weren't kidding about how solidly Riolu imprint on people."

"Great…" Saylee sighed, hugging the little puppy. "We need to go to Lake Valor. Galactic may still be there… at the very least, we need to find out if Uxie is still there."

"Understood," Caelin said, leaping onto Sally's back. "We assume your trains are not functioning again due to the explosion. We shall have to be fleet of foot." She held out her arm. The shape of the leathery, natural armour on her arm had changed, and Saylee saw why when Zoe roosted on it. It was perfectly shaped for the Crobat to rest on. "Shall we?"

"My lady!" Ferne the Floatzel called, running up to them as Key assembled her Pokémon. "You have lost Ailie and Merida. Please, let me take their place."

"Let me take Buddy's while he's in hospital," Maya said, joining her. The Azumarill's voice was hoarse from crying. "I want to find my brother and… and avenge the death of my sister-in-law."

"You are welcome to join us," Caelin said with a nod. "But we must move. Miller, remain in wait for my summons."

"Yes, my lady," the Machoke said with a bow. Saylee climbed onto Sally's back behind Caelin, while Gareth picked up Key.

Terra climbed onto Caelin's lap. "Everyone's ready to go," she said, nodding to Tashigi and Raiden, who floated nearby, and Ephraim, who was darting ahead, nose to the ground.

"Then let us go!" Caelin called. "To Valor!"

{ _Darnua 13_ _th_ _, 5:04 pm_ }

{ _Valor Resort}_

After four full days of running and three short nights' sleep, they reached the underground exit in the Valor Resort. They had had to detour through the tunnels, as many of them had been collapsed by the earthquakes. The Resort itself was a disaster area; many of the buildings had been utterly destroyed, even most of the debris blasted away. Rescue teams were still clearing up rubble, and bodies were still being unearthed.

"This is abominable," Caelin growled, looking towards the lake. The lake was no longer hidden from view by the trees; a few of the larger ones were lying on their sides, roots sticking up into the air almost as high as the original trees had been, but most were entirely gone. The lake itself was a barren brown bed that was being covered slowly by the light snow that was falling.

"The lakebed itself doesn't look damaged, though," Sally said, sniffing at it. "Weird. You'd think it would be burned to hell."

"Excuse me," Saylee said to one of the rescue workers. "Can you tell us about the explosion?"

"You'll have to ask one of the rangers about it," the man said. "There's one there." He pointed to a woman in a long red coat on the back of a Rapidash that was picking its way along the lakebed, now the edge of a crater.

"Is that… DI!" Key called, running over to her with her Pokémon in tow. "DI! PEARL!"

"Key? Saylee?" Di said, turning to watch as they picked their way around the fallen trees towards her. Her voice was somewhat wispy and faint, but at least she could speak again. She had a thick blue scarf around her neck, hiding the knife slash and surgical scars. "Should've figured I'd see you here…"

"How are you?" Saylee asked.

"Better now I'm reunited with Pearl," Di said, patting the neck of her smiling Rapidash.

"We are pleased to see it," Caelin said quickly. "Now tell us of the explosion!"

"It wasn't a fireball, I'm sure you can tell," Pearl said, nodding at the lakebed. "But it _was_ hot."

"We think it was the same kind of bomb used in Pastoria," Di explained. "It evaporated liquids but acted as a normal shockwave against solids. The Pastoria bomb must've been a test run. It vaporized the lake water, and the shockwave is what caused the earthquakes and blasted apart the forest and the resort, but it hasn't done any real damage to the stone and hardpacked earth of the lakebed. It probably wouldn't destroy most buildings, but the resort buildings… well, in summer it's normally very warm, so the buildings here have quite lightweight walls. They just don't get severe weather this far south, and the heated roofs prevent buildups of rain or snow from being a problem. This is not the kind of thing these buildings were made to withstand…"

"Why do such a thing?" Gareth asked, scowling.

"The Lake Guardian," Saylee said, pointing to a dome of rock sitting on the lakebed. They could see a gaping, black cave mouth on one side of it. "They were trying to scare it out, not obliterate it."

"And where are Galactic now?" Caelin demanded.

"By the time the police got to the scene, they'd vanished," Di sighed. "Somebody'd fought them, though. We found the corpses of a couple of Pokémon. Large, tough ones, foreign and definitely well-trained…"

"The Lake Guardian?" Tashigi asked fretfully. "Has anybody seen it?"

"Are you talking about _Uxie_?" Pearl asked, peering down her long nose as the Togetic. "That thing's a myth, you do know that?"

"So we've been told," Ephraim sighed. "…part of me wants to ask if it's hot out here or if it's just you, but it feels inappropriate."

" _You_ are _always_ inappropriate," Terra said with a sigh. "In this case, it would simply be distasteful."

"I'll fly over it and check it out," Zoe offered. "It'll keep me warm, at least." She flew off through the snow to survey the lake.

"Terra, Ephraim, will you be okay?" Gareth asked. "The snow's getting heavier…"

"I will be fine, here with my lady," Terra said. Caelin placed a warm hand over Terra's head, fingers lacing carefully around the delicate green sapling. "Although… I do not wish to be in your way in case we should have to fight, my lady."

"You are not in the way, Terra," Caelin reassured her. "We can easily destroy these fools one-handed."

"I'd still recommend returning Tashigi, Terra and Ephraim," Saylee said, watching Ephraim attempt to snuggle up next to Pearl for warmth and the Rapidash threaten to stomp on him. "It's too cold for them. I'm returning Zoe as soon as she gets back." Key nodded and returned her Pokémon.

"I don't like this," Ferne said, leaning out over the lakebed. "A lake with no water. It's not right."

"Nothing to do with Galactic is _right_ ," Maya bit out angrily.

"Saylee! Princess!" Zoe called frantically, flying back. "On the other side of the lake! It's Dawn!"

" _What?!"_ Saylee yelled. "What the hell?! Where?"

"Come, Sar," Caelin said, pulling Saylee up onto Sally's back behind her. Gareth picked up Key and the Pokémon dove down into the lakebed, running across the abnormally dry stones and their dusting of snow in pursuit of Zoe. Pearl and Di followed, the Rapidash's hooves clacking loudly off of the stones.

Saylee spotted Dawn running towards the previously underwater dome from the opposite side of the lakebed. "Dawn!" she yelled furiously. "What the _hell_ are you doing here?! I told you—"

"Sar!" Dawn said, freezing on the spot with a panicked expression. "I, uh, thought you might have been and gone already… I'm sorry!" she said frantically. "I'm so sorry, but I just… I couldn't not come! He's screaming for me to help him, y'know?!"

"Who?" Di asked, confused.

"Uxie?" Key asked. "Dawn—"

"I know it's important to stay out of Galactic's hands, but they're not _here_ anymore, are they?" Dawn argued. "But Uxie is, and he _needs_ me, y'know? Anya was able to get me to Pastoria, and it's taken me _hours_ to get close enough to the lake to teleport down… I know he's here. I can _feel_ it, y'know? Please…" She stepped towards the cave.

"Are you _all_ insane?" Pearl wanted to know. " _Uxie_ —?"

"Is _here_ ," Dawn insisted, stepping into the cave and beginning to dig into the mud. She slowly unearthed a bundle of grey. Two long grey tails unwrapped themselves to reveal the yellow-headed Uxie. Saylee's heart lurched at the sight of the deep read jewel set into its forehead _right where the cut on Lucas' forehead was._

Uxie's eyes were shut tight, but it smiled as it reached up blindly for Dawn. "It's you!" Uxie said happily, sighing in relief. "Please… help me. They'll find me, like they found Mesprit. We can't let them complete the red chain!"

Dawn nodded. "You're right," she said in a worryingly vague voice, holding Uxie gently. "Don't worry, I'll take you somewhere safe."

"What's the red chain?" Key asked, confused.

"What the hell is going on?" Di asked, even more confused.

"Dawn, do you know what you're doing?" Saylee demanded.

"I damn well hope so, if I'm going to harbour _Knowledge_ ," Dawn said, hugging Uxie. Uxie hugged her back, wrapping his tails around her as the pair began to glow.

"So this is ascendance," Caelin mused, watching the glow expand as Uxie slowly melted out of sight.

"Are you going to explain what _that_ is?" Pearl asked, gaping. Di was making odd sputtering noises as she watched Dawn and Uxie meld.

"A human becoming host to a god," Saylee said, running to catch Dawn as the girl collapsed. She was breathing heavily, as if she'd been running, and her heartbeat was pounding so fast that Saylee could feel her entire body pulsing. "Dawn! Dawn, can you hear me?"

"Wow…" Roar murmured, leaning out of Saylee's arms and licking Dawn's cheek. "That's a _lot_ of aura."

"I… can…" Dawn said weakly. "It's… so _much…_ it's okay!" she insisted, her eyes twitching wildly over her firmly closed lids. A red jewel had appeared in her forehead, right where the cut was on Lucas. "I can handle it… I can…"

Caelin howled in shock and pain as something struck her from behind, knocking her from Sally's back. Maya was flung aside by psychic power at the same moment, and Ferne was struck down as something ripped into her side.

"Princess!" Sally yelled, running to Caelin.

"What was that?" Gareth called, running to assist Ferne, who was whimpering in pain as the slash in her side swelled up and turned purple. A Golbat swooped down out of the darkness, flying towards Saylee.

"NO!" Saylee yelled, leaning protectively over Dawn.

"Get her, Pearl!" Di ordered, clinging to her Rapidash's back as Pearl reared up to attack the Golbat. Key dived to catch Maya as the Azumarill was flung to the ground once more, enveloped in pink.

"No! LEE!" Roar yowled, rising up as something else leapt at Saylee from the dark. He fired an Aura Sphere at it, and in its light Saylee saw two things: that Roar had evolved into Lucario, and that the enemy was Saturn's Toxicroak.

"Everyone get into the light!" Gareth called. "We can fight just fine in the dark! Raiden, there are Zubat above us!"

"Rai got it!" Raiden said. There were flashes in the dark and _thumps_ as he knocked out enemy bats. Saylee slung her arm under Dawn's shoulders and half-dragged, half-carried the girl out to the lakebed.

For a split second as she stepped out into the light, she was blinded. "Saylee!" Sally called, leaping in front of her trainer and collapsing with a howl of pain. A slash in the Luxray's side swelled up and turned purple.

"Stay down if ya know what's good for ya," the Toxicroak standing over her sneered, raising his claws at Saylee. "Hand over the girl!"

"Over my dead body," Saylee snapped, putting her arms around Dawn and turning to shield her from the Toxicroak.

"If you say so," the Toxicroak said, crouching to leap.

"How dare you harm our steed!" Caelin snarled, giving the foe a fiery punch to the face. "Heal her, Sar, and you can make a swift escape with miss Dawn and Uxie!" She dodged another blow from the Toxicroak and struck back.

"No you won't!" a Purugly snarled, attacking Saylee while she was bent over Sally, trying to spray antidote on the Luxray's wound one-handedly while keeping a grip on Dawn.

"Yes they will!" Maya cried, bodyslamming the Purugly aside.

"Saylee, Di and I'll take care of stuff here, you take Dawn and go!" Key yelled, running out of the cave with Gareth and Raiden in tow.

"Sally, can you run?" Saylee asked. The Luxray slowly climbed to her feet as the swelling of her wounds visibly subsided.

"Well, not what _I'd_ consider running, but definitely faster than a human," she said. "But the Princess—"

"We have sufficient defenders," Caelin called, smiling proudly at Roar as his Aura Sphere blasted the Toxicroak across the lakebed. "Take the young avatar somewhere where these foul fiends cannot take her power!"

"I'll go with her, but I'll come back," Saylee said, lifting Dawn up onto Sally's back. "And I'll bring backup. The police and rangers aren't far, so—"

Sheer agony split her chest open. Suddenly, she couldn't breathe, couldn't even think as white-hot pain engulfed her, and then the blackness of unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was an unbearable scream of pain.

{ _Darnua 13_ _th_ _, 5:58 pm_ }

{ _Lake Valor}_

 _Where are the trainers?_ Key thought, watching Saturn's Toxicroak get blasted across the dry lakebed. _These are totally Galactic Pokémon, right? Are they here on their own, or…_

"Key, behind you!" Gareth shouted, shoving her aside. Key saw a harpoon shoot through where she had been standing and strike Roar in the back, spearing him through.

The Lucario howled in agony, a horrific sound that was echoed precisely by a scream of pain from Saylee. Key couldn't see any injuries on her friend, or indeed any Pokémon or person anywhere near her except for Sally and Dawn, but nevertheless Saylee collapsed to the ground at the same moment that Roar did.

"Roar! Lee!" Key screamed. Roar's limp body was jerked off of the ground as a cord attached to the shaft of the harpoon retracted, dragging the harpoon and Roar up to the top of the rock in which Uxie's cave was set, leaving a rain of blood in its wake.

A man with pointed, dark-blue hair was holding some kind of firing tube for the harpoon, and callously pushed Roar's corpse off with his foot so he could load the harpoon back into the tube. "Always someone meddling," he complained. "Don't you people ever learn?"

"Don't _you_?" Sally snarled, charging towards him.

Caelin leapt onto her steed's back. "This day, our people will be avenged!" the Infernape screeched. "We shall provide them an offering of _your blood_!"

The man fired the harpoon again, but Caelin caught it in midair, yanking it down to drag him down the rock. His subordinates grabbed him, pulling him back as he let the firing tube go and started to retreat.

"Don't let him get away!" Key shouted angrily, re-releasing Ephraim, Tashigi and Terra. "Maya! Gareth! Ephraim! Get around the rock! Surround them! Don't let them get away! Zoe, Raiden, Tashigi—go help Caelin and Sally _get 'em_! Terra and I will mop up!"

The Pokémon charged towards the rock, surrounding the humans and leaving their semi-conscious Pokémon foes in the mud. "Terra, can you get them with Sleep Powder?" Key asked.

"Of course," Terra said, opening her mouth and blowing streams of blue powder at any Pokémon that regained consciousness enough to get close to where Key crouched protectively over Dawn and Saylee, both of whom were passed out on the lakebed.

 _What happened to Lee_? Key wondered, feeling her friend's pulse and looking for injuries, finding the former easily but none of the latter—no new ones, anyway. _She collapsed when Roar did… did his death…?_

"Key! There you are!"

"Professor Rowan!" Key shouted, looking around at the edge of the lake crater where the white-haired Professor was standing, staring in shock at the battle that was unfolding. "Help me get Dawn out of here!"

"Sergio!" Rowan called, releasing a huge Staraptor. "Go get Dawn!"

Key put her arm around Dawn's shoulders, managing to lift the girl enough to get her onto Sergio's back when the gigantic grey-and-white bird crouched next to her. She stooped to lift Saylee onto her own back as the Staraptor swooped away. _Better get her out of here too… if she doesn't recover from Roar's death soon, she'll be in a lot of danger here…_

Galactic grunts were fleeing ahead of their Pokémon, Saturn at their head. He suddenly turned and pointed up at Sergio, looking up at somebody who was further around the edge of the crater from Professor Rowan.

Key looked around in time to see Mars raising another firing tube.

"Sergio! LOOK OUT!" she screamed.

Sergio spotted Mars and tried to change his course, but Mars still nailed him right through the throat with a harpoon, dragging him down towards her and a fresh contingent of Galactic goons. Sergio thrashed against the pull, giving out choked squawks, until Mars grabbed the cord connected to the harpoon and yanked it sharply, bringing him crashing to the ground and cutting off his screeches forever.

"SERGIO!" Rowan roared, running towards his Staraptor. "Dawn! DAWN!" He released a hefty Bibarel as several Galactic grunts moved to intercept them.

"All of you, leave them! Go help Professor Rowan rescue Dawn!" Key screamed at the Pokémon.

"We shall continue pursuit with Sal! The rest of you, GO!" Caelin ordered.

"Honestly, Saturn," Mars sang, pulling a knife out of her pocket and kneeling over Dawn, "the only thing you got right was that Uxie was waiting for someone and that it'd be easier to get once she showed up. Good thing I'm here to clean up after you, right?"

"Key! Key Key Key!" Raiden wailed anxiously. "Something here very _angry_!"

"You mean everybody here?" Key said, looking from Caelin and Sally, who were circling a fleeing Saturn, to Di and Pearl trampling over other fleeing Galactics, to the oncoming horde of her and Saylee's angry Pokémon.

Then she looked down at the dry lakebed. It was flowing again, with ankle-depth, pitch-black water that Key could see flowing _through_ her ankles rather than around them.

"No… DAWN!" Tashigi suddenly screamed. Key dove to catch her as she fell out of the air, crying. "Key, they took Uxie from her!"

Key looked back up at Mars to see her holding something up to the light, staring at it with a childlike expression of wonder. She was still smiling widely as the black water rose up over her.

{}

{}

 _Roar actually died of a critical hit while training on Iron Island. That place is a fucking deathtrap and I hate it. Getting past this phase of the game was nearly as bad as Eterna, I swear to Arceus._

 _Also, apologies for the week's absence-various things like me going back to my retail job along with health issues and interviews for teaching jobs in Japan just made life hectic af and getting the final editing and fixing up of this chapter done just wasn't happening. I hope we haven't missed anything anyway… all through writing this I've been continually mixing up the Lake Trio XP_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _RIP Roar the Lucario, level Egg-30._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	32. Chapter 31

_Saylee—Pokémon: 20 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 13_ _th_ _, 6:25 pm}_

 _{Valor Lakebed}_

Saylee slowly came to through a haze of pain. Every breath tugged agonizingly at the edges of the gaping wound in her chest, the chill air somehow burning at exposed nerves. She hazily tried to press her hands to the wound with a vague notion of stopping the bleeding… but there was none.

Her hands were pressed against her coat, dry and cold and undamaged.

She could _feel_ it, could feel cold air tearing at the edges of the wound, feel the rips in her lungs making it impossible to breathe, but it _wasn't there_. She screamed in pain as she fought to breathe, only adding to the cacophony of panicked, agonized screaming around her.

"Lee!" she heard Key yell. Saylee shrieked in pain as she was lifted up, the phantom pain jolting through her. As she tried to reach for her friend, it seemed that the black fog around her vision was clinging to her limbs.

"Sar, please calm down!" Terra shouted. The little Turtwig was scrabbling to cling to her position draped over Key's shoulder until the blonde reached up a hand to steady the small grass-type. "You are uninjured, Sar. Please do not be frightened of the mist. It does not seem to be harming us."

"The screaming you hear is mostly Galactic," Key offered helpfully. "Lee, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Roar's death hurt her," Tashigi whimpered, floating down to rest on Saylee's chest. Rather than jarring the phantom wound, the Togetic's presence was soothing, comforting. Saylee started to breathe again. "Oh, it's so awful… poor Roar, and then they took Uxie's power from Miss Dawn…"

"Dawn!" Saylee croaked, sitting up and looking around. She couldn't see any sign of Galactic, aside from the sounds of terrified screaming. but somehow through the mist she could see Dawn lying on the far side of the lakebed with Professor Rowan, Di, Pearl and several of Saylee's Pokémon crowded around the unconscious girl.

With Key's help, Saylee got upright and staggered through the cold black mist. While it was sickly and unpleasant, it was also far, far too familiar. She almost tripped over a Galactic grunt who was lying on the ground, curled up and screaming, heels of his hands grinding into his eyes and fingers clawing harshly enough at his forehead to draw blood. _Di said they found dead Pokémon,_ she thought weakly. _Did one of them become a ghost…?_

The lakebed gently sloped up to the grass where Dawn was lying, but even that easy incline was painful and exhausting for Saylee. She forced herself through the feeling like she should be coughing blood, focusing on making it to Dawn's side where she could collapse. "…Shit," she muttered, checking Dawn's pulse. It was weak, but there. The cut in the girl's forehead wasn't even bleeding; it was just there, red and empty. The distant sound of screams finally stopped, leaving space for Saylee's shouts. "Shit, shit, _shit_!"

"What on earth is wrong with her?" Rowan demanded. "What happened—what was in her forehead?"

"Saylee, calm down," Key said frantically. "It wasn't your fault—that harpoon—if she'd just stayed in Canalave…"

"I should've been able to defend her anyway!" Saylee yelled. "I promised her I would! Instead, I _failed_ … Roar is _dead_ … I had to be saved by a _ghost…!_ "

"We are not ungrateful for your assistance, spirit," Caelin added to the mist hanging over them. "Galactic and their Pokémon both were vicious and dangerous. More than two lives might have been lost without you. If we may… who are you?"

"Were you a lake Pokémon?" Ferne asked. "Did they kill you too?"

"No an' yes," the spirit said, his vaguely familiar voice resonating throughout the mist. "Oi, Bubbles! Specs! Don't ya know me?" The mist coalesced into a frowning Gengar. With the mist gone, a large number of unconscious Galactics were left strewn across the lakebed, along with a large number of similarly unconscious Pokemon. Saylee cast an eye over them, but the humans were all green-haired, none red or blue.

"Uh…" Key said, staring at it in confusion.

"Lady Key, _do_ you know of this spectre?" Terra asked.

"Guess ya don't recognize me like this, huh?" the ghost said, looking down at himself. "Kinda cool that I got hands an' feet now, though." He wiggled his hands pointedly in the air.

"H-hold on," Saylee said, handing Dawn to Professor Rowan and digging into her bag. "They're probably… right… at… the… bottom… there!" She pulled out her battered old Silph Ghost Scope, prototype model, and peered at the ghost through it. "A Sharpedo!" she gasped.

"Sharpedo aren't freshwater Pokémon, though," Di said in confusion. "Where'd he come from?"

"I'll give ya a big hint: not here," the dead Sharpedo said, rolling his eyes. "Hey, Bubbles, glad ta see yer wearin' that Beautifly pin. The kiddo looked all over fer that."

"Oh! You're..." Key gasped, reaching up and touching her hairpin. "Shanks, right? Oh…" she gasped sharply. "Oh, _no_ …"

"Hell yeah," Shanks growled. Even as a Gengar, his teeth looked viciously sharp. "That fuckin' explosion. Got Spiky's bird thing too, although that one didn't hang around. Said bein' a ghost wasn't the way an' he trusted Spiky'd be fine. Can't say the same fer the kiddo. Well, he ain't exactly been fine since Adrian died, y'know?"

"I have… _so_ many questions, but right now Dawn needs a hospital, Roar and Sergio need funerals and _we_ need to haul ass to Lake Acuity," Saylee said, standing up shakily, leaning on Key until she was on her feet. The phantom pain was fading, enough that she was capable of standing under her own power and walking over to Roar's body, revealed by the retreat of the black mist. He looked bigger and smaller than she expected, evolving so soon before his death. "Uxie said something about a red chain. I don't know what it is, but clearly these jewels are involved and I'll bet that Galactic having them isn't good. Di?"

"Yeah?" the extremely bewildered-looking ranger said.

Saylee stooped down and picked up Roar's body. He was really a little too big for her to carry, but she wanted to hold him in her arms one last time. "Please, can you see to his funeral arrangements for me?" she asked, carrying him over.

"Salute our fallen comrade!" Caelin screeched, before biting her thumb and smearing another streak of blood on her face. The other Pokémon stood to attention, holding up paws, claws and wings as Saylee handed Roar to Di.

"Sure thing," Di promised, taking off her red coat to wrap the dead Lucario tenderly in.

Saylee pressed her hand to the Lucario's hand, stroking his ears tenderly. _I'm sorry, Luke… I'm so sorry I can't protect_ anybody _from Galactic…_ "And please don't tell anyone about Dawn and Uxie," she added aloud to Di. "We don't really want… please don't tell anybody anything that you saw here, Di. Please. We don't want them to be in any more danger." Di mimed zipping her lips.

"I'll have her sent to the Canalave Hospital with Lucas," Professor Rowan said, standing up with the girl in his arms. "Shouldn't be hard, two sets of very unusual but very similar symptoms… you lot had better bring Barry back safe, or else."

"Barry?" Key asked. "Hasn't Riley brought him back?"

Professor Rowan shook his head with a scowl. "Haven't heard a peep from either of them in two days. Barry's mother's been informed that he's missing, and she's trying to get ahold of his father to inform him, but the silly child's not answering his calls…"

"We'll keep an eye out," Saylee promised, walking around her Pokémon and checking for serious injuries. Aside from the slash on Sally's shoulder, which had lost its unpleasant purple colour and was steadily losing the swelling, nobody seemed to have received more than scrapes and bruises. "Everyone, let's move out, I'll heal people while we walk. Shanks, you're coming with us. I have questions and a few days' underground travel will give plenty of time to ask."

"I would, but, eh…" Shanks said, twisting his hands around in the air. "I keep tryin' to leave here, y'know, to find the kiddo, and I just can't. Seem kinda stuck."

Saylee held up a Great Ball. "I think I can help with that," she offered.

{ _Darnua 13_ _th_ _, 9:14 pm_ }

{ _Underground}_

Stretches of the Underground Paths hadn't had their electricity restored yet, but with Raiden and Sally leading and zapping the unconnected bulbs they were able to move in a little patch of light at all times. Zoe scouted ahead for accessible tunnels, while Caelin and Terra rode on Sally's back, Gareth and Ephraim followed alongside, and Ferne and Maya walked behind Saylee and Key while they talked to Shanks.

"So where even is Lake Acuity?" Key asked as Saylee pulled up the map on her pokégear.

"Ain't near Snowpoint City, is it?" Shanks asked.

"Yeah, actually," Saylee said, looking up from the map. "Why?"

"Well, 'cause Spikes an' the kiddo said somethin' about Snowpoint City 'fore Gaglactic showed up an' blowed shit up," Shanks said, watching Raiden zap happily around the dead Sharpedo to examine his new ghostly friend from every angle. "I ain't been out much, but I do know the kiddo's gotten press-ganged inta helpin' take out the Psycho Bowlcut Alliance in exchange fer not getting' locked up fer ALL've forever fer that little mistake with Kyogre."

"The little mistake that got hundreds of people killed?" Saylee pointed out sharply.

"Feels like Galactic are really competing to beat that body count," Key murmured. "So… what, if he helps stop them, he gets off criminal charges?"

"Well… I got the feelin' it ain't so much that as the cops here are bad news," Shanks admitted. "Or connected ta bad news. Or somethin'."

"Or something," Saylee muttered, thinking of Diana and Phoebus Court and their fears for Milo Hunter and the Hawkshaw family. "Well, getting involved in kicking Galactic's collective asses would definitely indicate an earnest willingness to reform, at least, though it's anybody's guess how much that would matter to the courts in Hoenn…" She shivered, folding her arms. She'd only had Roar for a few days, but it already felt _wrong_ not to be carrying him in her arms, and the phantom wound in her chest continued to ache and twang.

"But this is to say nothing of his kidnapping of Prince!" Terra interjected. "He must be brought to justice!"

"The little blue squirt? We didn't kidnap 'im," Shanks laughed. "He was gettin' cold feet 'bout some arranged mate. Wanted ta spread his stubby wings a little, y'know?"

"Prince can rest easy on that score," Caelin said, rolling her eyes. "Once we are Fire Lord, our mate must be an Infernape. Our arrangement to Prince will not have to hold."

"Prince will still have to mate into the Coronet clan, however, will he not?" Terra pointed out. "There must still be an arrangement…"

"He cannot be mated to any of my sisters, for they are all already promised," Caelin mused. "But he must take a mate who is a part of our clan in order for the agreements to hold. It cannot be a commoner… perhaps one of our handmaids? Although, of present, the only handmaid I have that can be truly said to be a _part_ of our clan is you, Terra."

"M-My lady?" Terra eeped.

"Aww, she's blushin'!" Shanks teased. "Someone's crushin' outside their class! Scandals!"

"Th-that is not—" Terra insisted frantically.

"You have professed more concern for his wellbeing than we," Caelin said with a little grin. "It would be of interest to see what Prince would say, should you confess your feelings before we inform him that our betrothal is null."

"If he is a gentleman, he will refuse you with sorrow," Ephraim insisted. "In which case, I shall be honoured to heal your broken heart!"

"I think I'll be perfectly alright," Terra said weakly.

"It's okay, Terra, I got this," Key promised, looking at her Pokénav's clock. "Oh, would you look at that, time for a change in subject! So, Shanks, who is this person travelling with Archie? Is it Matt?"

"Naw, I ain't seen this guy before," Shanks said with a shrug. "Then again, I only seen this guy once. I ain't been out much. Too distinctive, the kiddo might get noticed."

"You called him 'Spikes'," Saylee remembered. "What was his actual name?"

"Uh…" Shanks looked around shiftily, before floating to the side and hiding in the wall. "Wow, this is _weird_. Ya got no idea how weird this is. Pretty cool, huh?" He stuck his head out of the floor between Sally's front paws, blowing a razzberry at her.

"Are you one of those people who gives people nicknames instead of remembering their actual name?" Sally asked, snapping at him. "My sister does that, too."

"I didn't know you had a sister, Sal," Zoe said in surprise.

"Well, she left with a trainer before… before Leo and I did," Sally said, looking away. "I wonder if she's a Luxray now too… and yeah, she only ever calls people by nicknames 'cause she's bad at remembering people's names."

"Well, all humans look alike 'til ya get ta know 'em a little, don't they?" Shanks grumbled, floating back up into the air. "Some human bloke. Oh, wait, saw 'im twice, he was fightin' at Lake Valor too, 'gainst the purple-haired bitch."

"Jupiter wasn't still there at Lake Valor, though," Key said nervously. "Only Saturn and Mars. Do you think—?"

"She's gone north? Probably," Saylee said grimly. "Riley and Barry… we need to get to them before she does."

"An' who're they, then?" Shanks asked. "Now I can do the whole flyin' thing, maybe I can help keep a lookout."

"You're going to have to actually pay attention to this description, then, so you can tell them apart from other humans," Key said with a slight grin. "And then you're going to tell us _everything_ you know about what's going on with Archie."

"It ain't that much," Shanks said with a sigh, "Like I said, ain't been out much…"

{ _Darnua 18_ _th_ _?, ?}_

 _{?}_

Getting to Celestic took them, as before, four days, during which Shanks told them everything he knew; he didn't know much about Galactic, but he knew lots about Archie, his father Adrian, and the origins of Magma and Aqua. Aqua had started with the best of intentions, as a plan to permanently prevent water pollution, but after one fatal accident everything had been twisted by grief and pain and hatred. Key visibly looked more and more sorry for Archie the more that Shanks told them, but while Saylee did feel sorry for how badly his life had been distorted, his actions were still his own and his actions had ultimately caused the deaths of hundreds of people. Perhaps he could and would make reparations, but he had a lot to make and it would be a long time, in Saylee's opinion, before she'd let him anywhere near the Blue Orb.

They reached Celestic Town only an hour before sunset, but with Jupiter perhaps having already attacked Riley and Barry, they could no longer afford the luxury of moving with daylight. Besides, the snow was falling so heavily on Celestic that even the few daylight hours weren't much brighter than the night. The snow was even heavier as they began the long trek up the mountain to Snowpoint City. Mt Snowpoint, according to the data on Saylee's 'gear map, was the second-highest mountain in Sinnoh after Mt Coronet. Neither was as tall as Mt Silver, nor most members of the brutal mountain range that divided Kanto and Johto, but the deep snow and unforgiving stone outcrops still reminded Saylee vividly and uncomfortably of the cruel slopes where Red had died.

After less than an hour of climbing, Saylee dug out her Dragon Clan cape and Key got out her Champion's cloak, and with the two tied together the pair of them had a little mobile tent of warmth. They clung to each other and Saylee's jar of Sacred Fire as they steadily climbed the slopes, going as long as they could before taking a few hours to sleep. Even with Caelin and the jar of fire keeping them warm, they couldn't stay in one place for too long. The snow was sometimes heavy, sometimes light, but always falling, relentlessly covering them and threatening to bury them if they stayed in one place for more than a few hours. Terra, Ephraim and Zoe couldn't handle the constant cold and were unable to stay close enough to Caelin's warmth, so they were returned. Sally led the way, seeing the safe paths under the snow with her x-ray vision and kept warm by Caelin riding on her back. Gareth dealt with troublesome wild Pokémon, but even he had to rest, so Shanks stood guard whenever they slept, keeping a solid distance from the flickering fire and the shadows cast by it; anyone whose shadow he crossed became even more tired and sluggish, something they could ill afford if they were going to keep going north.

"You'd think… there'd be… a decent road… to a city… with a… gym…" Key huffed as they settled down at the end of their second day hiking, huddling against Sally's side to be between Caelin and the Sacred Fire.

"No need," Saylee sighed, digging tiredly in her bag for cereal bars to eat. "Safe human teleporters have been functional for centuries. Goods and supplies have been transported by teleporter for over a hundred years before that."

"There are footpaths between other towns, though," Key mumbled. "Thanks," she added, accepting a bar and biting into it with a blissful sigh.

"The rest of your dens aren't built on the tops of permanently frozen peaks, however," Sally pointed out.

"It was first built back in the Dragon Empire days, I read," Saylee said, trying not to yawn. _Four hours of sleep is not enough for this._ "This was the only place too cold for even the strongest dragons to reach. The resistance movement built a stronghold up here and started exclusively training ice-types."

"Is this my bedtime story? Because I'm tired enough as it is," Key muttered, scarfing down the rest of her cereal bar and returning Gareth as soon as he was done with his own food.

"Where the hell did Shanks go?" Sally asked, looking around through the snow. "I don't like not being able to see that guy…"

Saylee's pokégear beeped warningly. She glanced at the screen as the weather app popped up. "Crap!" She yelped, grabbing the jar and jumping to her feet. "We can't stay here! The pressure's dropping and the wind's rising!"

"Which means…?" Key said groggily, peering up through her hood as if she thought Saylee had gone crazy.

"Which means this snow is about to turn into a full-on blizzard!" Saylee said, panic waking her up. She grabbed Key's arm and pulled her to her feet. "We have to find— _anything_. A cave, a tree, a rock, any sort of extra shelter…"

"What about your ranger tent?" Key asked, gripping onto Saylee's arm as they plowed back into the knee-deep snow. Sally loped in front of them, with Caelin tiredly flinging embers ahead to melt their path.

"It won't be able to handle the weight of the snow. It's made for use in Kanto and it still doesn't really snow there," Saylee panted. Even with the rock beneath their feet cleared, the slope was steep and exhausting to climb. "We'll get crushed. C'mon!"

The snow had been drifting steadily down for two days, but now it was growing heavier, the wind forcing it down as hard as rain and so much colder. Sacred Fire or no Sacred Fire, Saylee knew this snow could kill them if they couldn't find anything soon.

"Bubbles! Specs!" she heard Shanks shout. "Good, yer movin'! There's a light up the slope! Hurry it up!"

"What?" Saylee shouted. She swore she felt her lips crack. With the heavier snow and wild winds, it was no longer possible to keep the snow off of her face, and it felt like her whole face was frozen solid. She pulled off and pocketed her glasses; the metal frames were so cold that they were starting to burn, and it didn't make much difference to her ability to see through the swirling white.

"Light, in a house, thataways!" Shanks shouted.

"I think… I see it!" Sally called. "Key, Lee, stay close to me, I'll lead us up!"

Saylee lost track of time as they trudged up the slope and didn't want to uncurl from the way she was wrapped around Key and the jar of fire in order to check. Shanks kept up a regular report on how far away they were from the light, but Saylee couldn't see it. She put her faith in Sally and Shanks' vision and focused on keeping moving, putting one foot in front of the other steadily and constantly. She felt beyond exhausted and on the verge of collapse when the wind whipped back Sally's overjoyed shout of "We're there! We're almost there! I see the house!"

They staggered forwards with fresh energy as the dark bulk of a house loomed out of the snow, light streaming from the windows. Caelin leapt off of Sally's back and banged on the door.

"OPEN UP!" she bellowed. "WE COMMAND THAT YOU OPEN UP!"

The door was opened by a rather gentle-looking young woman with wavy teal hair. Her eyes widened the moment she saw them.

"Oh, more guests!" she said in shock, stepping back and gesturing through the door. "Please come in! What on earth were doing out in that blizzard?" She stepped back nervously and clutched at a triangular pendant around her neck when Shanks floated in. Saylee fumbled for Shanks' pokéball and returned the malicious-looking ghost.

"Thanks…" Key panted as they staggered into the wondrously warm house, more exhausted than cold thanks to the Sacred Fire. The lady insistently pulled off their coats, hats and scarves, draping them over a heated rack. Caelin began pawing half-melted snow out of Sally's fur. "Sorry to… just turn up… especially if… you have guests—"

"Don't worry about that, they were rather unexpected too," the lady laughed, "and in any case this _is_ a boarding house. We certainly have the room. They're a couple of young men, and they're the only guests we have just now—please, come in and warm up. I'm Mariah Trent—please, call me Mariah." She ushered them down the broad hall. It was pleasantly homey, with wood-panelled walls covered in lots of colourful little framed things, but it was spacious, with many dark doors—open into dark rooms or just dark wood, Saylee wasn't sure without her glasses—and extremely long coat racks. It seemed to be mostly empty, though, lacking the large numbers of guests it was evidently built to hold.

"Thank you so much," Saylee sighed. "I just feel lucky you're here… I'm amazed there's anyone else out in this weather."

"Indeed, we are most grateful for your hospitality," Caelin said, putting her hands together and bowing to Mariah, who gasped.

"Oh, dear, your face… you're injured!" she said fretfully, reaching for the bloodstains on Caelin's face.

"We assure you that we are not, and that there is no need for concern," Caelin reassured her. "Come, Sar, Key, Sal, we must warm you up!"

"Just a mo," Key mumbled. "Aggh, I can't unfold my glasses with my fingers numbed…" Caelin reached out and unfolded them for her, warming the frames as she did so. She then did the same for Saylee.

"Thank you, Caelin," Saylee said, putting them back on. They had fogged up so badly that it didn't really help her see. A thought struck her. "These men… what are they like?" _Could it be Barry and Riley_?

"Both fairly young men, although the shorter one went to bed already," the woman mused, glancing at one closed door in the middle of the hall before stepping forward to open the door at the far end of the entry hall for them. "Both trainers, I believe, since they have a good number of Pokémon with them. They're going on to Snowpoint, but it just hasn't been safe to head out since they got here and of course the teleporters are down… anyway, the bigger one's chatting with my partner at the table right now, if you're not too tired and willing to join them?"

"We'll have to see about that, but we can at least say hi to be polite," Key said with a weary grin. "Again, thank you for letting us stay."

"No problem," Mariah said, smiling again. "Hayley!" she called, pushing the door open. "We have another two guests staying tonight!"

"Is that so?" a deeper voice asked, before giving a hearty laugh. "Well come on then, don't be shy! We ain't gonna eat you, y'know!"

"Coming, coming," Saylee laughed, following Mariah into a vast communal room, with a long table set out behind a plush collection of sofas and beanbags set out in a circle around a roaring fireplace. On the far end of the table from the door, they could see a tall blond sitting with their arms crossed, giving them the biggest grin she'd ever seen. Sitting across from Hayley, back to the door, was a tall, purple-haired guest with glasses and scraggly purple hair and glasses, chuckling at his host's greeting. He turned to look at them, and dropped his grin in shock. His panicked expression was for a moment confusing, then familiar. Key inhaled sharply, her eyes widening.

Mariah looked nervously from the girls to her partner. Saylee guessed that she probably felt very ill-at-ease from the sudden silence. Hayley simply watched, mildly confused.

"Sar, do you know this man?" Caelin demanded, looking from Saylee's expression to the guest. Sally looked around, sniffing the air with a frown.

Archie slowly stood up, still staring. He swallowed, his mind apparently still trying to process things. "K-Key?" he breathed.

{}

{}

 _...aaaand there_ Deliverance _converges with_ Dimensional Destruction! _The original intention was to release chapters of both side-by-side so they'd converge naturally, but life happened a lot. As this chapter suggests, a lot's happened to Archie and Blue in between the last_ Deliverance _chapter and now, and we are still working on_ Deliverance _and will post more of it in the future to fill in a lot of the details._ Deliverance _will end when the boys reach this lodge on the way to Snowpoint, however, and from this point on, both stories are one. Which will include all four team listings every chapter! *rolls up sleeves to do some Vetinari-level juggling of characters*_

 _Also, the part of Shanks is being played by a Gastly that I caught way back in the Old Chateau a while back. We planned this plot development when I did, Shanks being one of the few Pokemon featured in this who isn't an ingame catch and thus whose life and death was entirely under our control. As such, I left the capture out before because the name of my catch was potentially spoilery, and in the unlikely event that anybody's tracking the catches too closely, it would probably be confusing that a Gastly/Haunter failed to appear in any of the crowd scenes in Canalave XP I evolved him into Gengar by trading with Key-infic, take it as possible for a dead Pokemon to go straight to Gengar if they were sufficiently powerful when they died and/or if their rage against their killers is sufficiently powerful..._

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Shanks. Species: Gastly. Nature: Impish. Ability: Levitate. Level: 17. Location: Old Chateau_

 _Name: Shadow. Species: Sneasel. Nature: Lonely. Ability: Keen Eye. Level: 34. Location: Route 216._

 _Name: Sassquatch. Species: Snover. Nature: Quiet. Ability: Snow Warning. Level: 34. Location: Route 217._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_


	33. Chapter 32

_Saylee—Pokémon: 21 Deaths: 13_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 12:45 am}_

 _{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

At that moment, Key burst into tears and slapped Archie as hard as she could.

"Wh… wha…?" Archie continued to mumble, wincing and staggering backwards slightly under the assault. "What are you-how are you-Oh dear Kyogre, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

"You will be," Saylee said quietly, stalking towards him, looking him up and down as she did so. He'd shaved off his beard, gotten glasses and dyed his hair purple-which might have gone some way to making him look paler than she remembered, though perhaps that was also something to do with the spectral Sharpedo now sitting in a pokeball on her belt. He also appeared to have lost quite a bit of weight, and behind his glasses his eyes were shadowed.

She rested a hand on Shanks' new pokeball briefly. She felt sympathy, but not sorry for him.

"Well, this is a fun development," Sally said with a sharp grin, padding over to curl up by the fireplace on the far side of the room. "Ooooh, that's the stuff," she sighed, practically melting in front of the warmth, curling up to watch.

"I don't mean to kick you out of your own living room," Saylee said to Mariah and Hayley, tilting her head slightly to indicate the couple without taking her glare off of Archie, "but we need to speak privately with… _this man._ " Archie flinched, though perhaps that was from Key kicking him in the shin, hissing invectives under her breath.

"Know him, do you?" Mariah said, tugging her partner out of their chair by the arm. "We'll go make you some hot chocolate to warm you up, won't we, dear?"

"Good luck, pal," Hayley muttered, clapping Archie's shoulder as they went past. "You're gonna need it."

Key's assault wound down, but she was still just about vibrating on the spot, fists clenching and unclenching as angry tears continued to roll down her cheeks. "What were you _thinking_?" she hissed.

"Ummm… you might want to be more specific," Archie said, unwisely trying for humour.

"How about when you ran away from Hoenn after destroying half the country?" Saylee demanded when Key snarled. Oddly, Key's rage was helping her keep her cool. Key's spirited attempted to claw Archie's skin off had reduced the urge to do so herself, though the rage was still there, icy cold like it always went after the initial flare. There was an edge of triumph, too; they hadn't stopped Galactic yet, but they'd found Archie Irving, and since they were in an isolated cabin trapped by a raging blizzard, there was nowhere for him to run this time.

Archie looked down, rubbing one of the spots where Key had punched him on the arm. "I… I needed to get away from everything and have some time to think. Everything I've ever thought or believed in has been turned on its head, and I fucked up to a degree I couldn't even _imagine_. I just had no idea how to deal with that…"

"Not by _running away_ from it!" Saylee snapped. "You need to _face_ what you did, mistake or not. You need to face justice. Not just for your sake, but for the sake of all the people you hurt. _They_ need to know that you can't hurt them anymore."

"Yeah… so I've heard," Archie mumbled, frowning. "For what it's worth, I haven't really been steering since I got to Sinnoh. I may have gotten a little press-ganged into fighting against Galactic Corp… well, I've started thinking of it as maybe a chance to redeem myself, even a little."

"We heard you'd _joined_ Galactic," Key said acidly.

Archie blanched harder than ever. "No!" he snarled, expression darkening. "I'd _never_ work for those bastards! I mean, yeah, I heard the rumours, but I wasn't exactly going to blow cover to shoot them down, and anyway I hoped it'd get the police to try a little harder to deal with Galactic, but I swear to you, it's not true!"

"We know that the rumour's false," Saylee said, remembering the black fog rising up over Mars and Saturn. "But I'd like to know who 'press-ganged' you into fighting Galactic, since it doesn't sound like the Sinnoh League knows anything about you."

Archie blinked at her in confusion. "But you-oh, wait," Archie said, rubbing his forehead. "He said something about time travel, so you didn't-just a minute, I'll go get him."

"You will go nowhere, cur," Caelin snarled as Archie stepped forwards.

"There's a damn blizzard outside, I'm not going to run away," Archie protested. "Okay, _you_ get him. He's probably in the gym, still training." For some reason, he rolled his eyes at Saylee as he pointed at a door on the far side of the room, one of two set either side of the merrily flickering fireplace where Sally was lying, her fur steaming lightly as she watched the proceedings with sleepy but nevertheless intent interest.

Saylee edged towards the door, keeping one eye on Archie, Key and Caelin. Key was keeping Archie pinned in place with a furious glower, while Caelin had her arms folded and had drawn herself up to her full height, which was getting unsettlingly close the the Aqua Leader's.

Before she opened the door, however, it swung away from her hand. "I heard yelling and then it went quiet, are you dead-?" Blue asked, stepping through the door and stopping short when he caught sight of her, staring in shock.

"Blue…?" Saylee gasped, gaping.

"Holy shit," Blue whispered, before grinning broadly and sweeping her up into a warm, _warm_ hug. "Knew we'd find you sooner or later! Or you'd find us. Are you okay? You're bloody freezing!"

"It's a bit chilly out there, you know," Saylee said, curling into his arms for a moment before frowning. "It'd be easier to find you if you carried your damn pokegear, you know." She shoved him back a step, her frown deepening. "And then it turns out _you're_ the guy running around with _Archie Irving_? What the _hell_ , Blue? Explain _now,_ explain fast, and explain well."

"Yeah, I know, if I'd carried my pokegear I wouldn't have to hear first from _Steven Bloody Stone_ that you're going to _Sinnoh_ ," Blue said, rolling his eyes. "Ran into him in Olivine, hopped a ferry, found this asshole on the ferry, also found some Galactic terrorists, heard that the Galactic terrorists probably weren't going to see the inside of a cell because the cops in Sinnoh are bent, and that if the cops in Sinnoh are bent maybe handing _that_ asshole over to them wasn't such a great plan, what with his, y'know, _thing_ and all. So instead I dragged him around to weaponize his tendency to fuck shit up."

"That's what you were doing at Lake Valor," Saylee said, rubbing her eyes. She gasped, her eyes snapping open again. "We heard that whoever was fighting Galactic at Lake Valor before lost a flying Pokemon…?"

Blue's expression had gone grim. "Bastards had some kind of harpoon shit in addition to their Pokemon," he said darkly. "Nailed Pete when he was wiping out their Pokemon." Saylee reached out and took his hand. He squeezed it back, taking a deep breath. "Saw on the news that you've lost a few too," he said softly. "Kinda hoped we'd be able to turn Galactic into more of a greasy smear on the snow by now…"

"Their foot soldiers are utterly loyal and their leadership is strong, smart and ruthless," Saylee said. "And they've planned well to get leverage over the police and the courts here. So… you were probably right not to hand him over to the authorities here. Technically you _are_ the authorities… just, y'know, in Kanto."

"I'm expanding my jurisdiction to his Kanto-born ass," Blue said, pointing at Archie. "I wasn't trying to keep this from you or anything. It's just, y'know, the pokegear thing… and actually I thought you might've realized that I was the one dragging him around after Celestic."

"You were in Celestic…?" Saylee said, rubbing her eyes as she looked from Blue to Archie. Then she gasped, smacking herself on the forehead. "You were in Celestic! With Morty! How could I forget?!"

"Wait, they were in Celestic?" Key asked, staring at Saylee. "When?! Why didn't you _say_ anything?!"

"Not now, two years ago… uh, for me," Saylee said, shaking her head. "It's a long story…" A slightly open door caught her eye and she stepped over to it, opening it up to see Mariah and Hayley pretending to just be walking towards her with a pot of hot chocolate, mugs and a bag of marshmallows.

"I see you all know each other, then?" Hayley said casually, setting the mugs and marshmallows down on the table.

"We _weren't_ eavesdropping," Mariah added quickly. "We just heard a _lot_ of angry voices and thought it best not to interrupt. You said you needed to speak privately, after all."

"Yes, we do," Saylee agreed, glaring sideways at Archie. She reached out for the hot chocolate pot. "Thanks for this."

"Don't think any of it," Mariah said, smiling sweetly and tugging Hayley away by the arm. "Well, we're going to leave you to it. Goodnight, all of you."

"Night," Blue said with a nod.

"Goodnight, and thanks," Key mumbled, wiping her cheeks and taking a deep breath as Saylee poured a mug and the smell of hot chocolate filled the room.

"We are indebted to you for your hospitality," Caelin said, bowing politely as Hayley opened the door. The princess turned to Archie. "You, however-"

"Back off!" something snarled, knocking the couple aside as it charged through the hall door and tackled Caelin to the ground. It was a huge Luxray, large enough to pin the unusually tall Infernape to the ground.

"Get off of her!" Sally yowled, charging into the other Luxray and knocking her off of Caelin. Mariah screeched as the pair went rolling across the floor, knocking over several chairs. Blue snatched the hot chocolate pot out of the way before it slopped all over the table.

"You know the rules, if you can't control them they'll have to go in pokéballs!" Hayley yelled, grabbing the fallen chairs.

"Sorry, I thought she was asleep in my room!" Archie said, running towards the tussling Luxray. "Star, don't make me put you in the pokéball!"

"Star…? _Twinkle_?" Sally said in surprise, pinning the other Luxray and turning her head to peer at the other through her good eye.. "Twinkle! It's me! Sally!"

"Sally… _Sally_?!" Star gasped in shock, lying still. She leaned up and sniffed Sally. "It _is_ you! I didn't recognize you! What—" She batted a paw at the scar where Sally's left eye had been. "What the hell happened? Do I need to eat a bitch?!"

"I'll help, bitch killed Leo," Sally snarled. She leaned down and licked Star's face, smiling again. "It's so great to see you, sis!"

"Your Luxray?" Blue asked. Saylee nodded. "She knows Star?" The Trents both sighed in relief as the fighting stopped, quickly hurrying away and closing the door behind them.

"This is your sister, Sal?" Caelin said, standing up and brushing herself off regally as she watched Sally back off and Star roll to her feet. "We believe there has been a misunderstanding. It is a pleasure to meet you, sister of Sal. May we proceed with a minimum of fighting, as the rules of our lodgings dictate?"

"All of you need to back off my boys," Star snarled at Saylee. Sally frowned, putting herself between her sister and her trainer.

"Star, she got here first," Blue pointed out. He glanced down at Saylee. "Sorry, she's… very territorial. Star, Saylee and I have been together for three years and have known each other our whole lives. This territory…" He gestured at himself "…is already marked. Deal with it."

"I don't smell her name on you," Star sniffed.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to share?" Saylee asked, folding her arms and meeting Star's glare head-on.

"No," Star and Sally said in unison, Star firmly and Sally with a sigh.

"We are afraid that we shall have to destroy you, should you behave aggressively towards Sar Kanto or Lady Key," Caelin warned, also folding her arms. "We will regret to do this, but we will protect what is ours."

"Yeah, sorry, Twinkle, but you're gonna have to put up with them," Sally said sheepishly. "I don't wanna have to fight you to defend them."

"And I don't want to have to put you in your pokéball, Star, so please don't make me," Archie added. Star huffed and padded over to the fire, pointedly walking between Key and Archie and nuzzling against Archie's arm on the way. "If I put her in her pokéball, it hurts her," he explained awkwardly.

"She's allergic?" Saylee asked Archie.

"Well, yes," he said, watching Star curl up in a huff in front of the fireplace. Sally went over to snuggle up with her sister. "You know about the condition?"

"One of my little brother's Pokémon is allergic too," Saylee explained. "I'm… impressed that you actually kept her. Most trainers release an allergic electric-type, and having a Pokemon that you can't put into a pokeball has to have been a risk for you."

"Believe it or not, I am not evil incarnate," Archie sighed. "I've always done what I thought was for the best…"

Saylee retrieved her hot chocolate and stuck a couple of marshmallows in it, taking a sip and all but moaning as the hot liquid warmed her from the inside out and the sugar hit her right in the exhaustion. "If you're doing something for revenge, it's not 'for the best'," she said firmly, looking as pointedly at Caelin as she was at Archie.

The princess hopped up to crouch on the edge of the table, meeting Saylee's gaze unwaveringly. "It is not mere revenge, but example," she insisted. "We must make all fear to bring harm to those under our protection." She reached up to touch the blood marks on her face. "The fates of Galactic will be whispered by mothers to frighten their young, who will know what it means to harm our people."

Saylee just poured another cup of hot chocolate and pressed it into Key's hands. "Warm up and get some energy back," she advised, feeling her jaw creak as she bit down a yawn. She ate a marshmallow out of her own mug instead.

"I would say that I'm amazed you're alive, coming through that blizzard," Blue said, pouring himself some hot chocolate, "but I'd never stop being amazed that you're alive if I started now. You look like you need a million years of sleep."

"We can't sleep _now_!" Key protested, though the last word became a huge yawn. "We just _found_ Archie! And your boyfriend! Hi, by the way," she said, waving at Blue.

"I'm guessing you're Key, Saylee's girlfriend," Blue said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate and just smirking at the look Saylee gave him. "What? You didn't shut up about her when you got back from Hoenn. Okay, fine. Blue Oak, nice to meet you. And we've met each others' Luxrays, but you haven't introduced me to the hothead here," he said, gesturing to Caelin.

"Oh yeah… may I present Princess Caelin of Mt Coronet, aspiring Fire Lord of the Coronet Clan," Saylee said, sipping some more of her hot chocolate. "Caelin, this is Blue Oak."

"We are pleased to meet the mate of our esteemed tactician," Caelin said formally, frowning as she glanced at Archie. "...We are less pleased to meet _you_ , thief, but we are pleased to corner you here."

"You're not cornering anybody," Star growled from the fireplace. "We're all stuck here by the blizzard."

"Which is why we all need to sleep," Blue pointed out, before necking his hot chocolate in one. "You two especially. None of us are going anywhere in a while, and since Archie hasn't even _tried_ to kill me in my sleep, I think you're safe."

"Okay, but what's stopping _them_ from killing _me_ in _my_ sleep?" Archie said, pointing at Saylee. "You said present her was probably going to hurt me. She hasn't yet. Has the danger passed or is it lying in wait, like a Bide building up to strike?"

"We will not forget your transgressions, thief," Caelin said warningly, "but it is perhaps advisable to be fully rested before dealing your fate to you. We may wait. After all, there is nowhere for you to run."

Saylee rubbed her eyes. The rush of shock, relief and rage was wearing off and her exhaustion was coming back, not just from the climb but a deep bone tiredness that sugar wasn't enough to hold back. She drank the rest of her hot chocolate and semi-disintegrated marshmallows. "You live for now," she sighed, gesturing to Archie, "but when I wake up, we're having _words_."

"Get in line," Key yawned, trying to press a hand over her mouth. "...okay, where's a warm, dry bed?"

"You, go to bed and stay there until somebody comes to yell at you," Blue said, pointing at Archie before slinging an arm around Saylee's shoulders and steering her out of the room. "C'mon, Key, you too, lemme show you where to sleep, and try and get some warm, dry clothes on before passing out in the warm, dry bed, okay?"

"Yes, _dad_ ," Key groaned, stooping to pick up her bag from where she'd dropped it by the door before glaring over her shoulder at Archie. " _Words,_ " she said menacingly before turning and stepping into the corridor.

"Oh yeah…" Saylee paused and returned Caelin to her pokeball. "I might not have the energy to kill you in your sleep right now, but she does," she explained, stooping to pick up her own bag by the door.

"Don't worry, the princess probably isn't really going to kill you," Sally offered drowsily.

"Like I'd let her," Star snorted, batting her sister's nose with a paw. "Now hush and sleep."

"Right… uh… why's _she_ hate me, anyway?" Archie said, hesitantly reaching for one of the pokeballs on his belt until Blue shot him a glare that made him snatch his hand away as if burned. "I mean, I get why Saylee and Key are pissed," he continued, speaking to the Luxray as Blue towed Saylee out of the room, "but why does that princess keep calling me thief?"

His only answer was deep, feline snoring. "Well, at least I get my bed to myself on my last night on earth _,_ " Saylee heard him mumble dejectedly.

{}

{}

 _Guess what's gonna be happening this time next week? The fabulous Key-chan's coming to visit! :DDDDD We will be PHYSICALLY IN THE SAME ROOM to probably play some gay lawyer games and hopefully get some Deliverance written XD And also going to Leicester for the weekend, but I promise we'll get the next DD chapter out late Sunday night :)_

 _(Also extra special thanks to Seka for doing a quick proofread of this chapter after I wrote it in the last two hours after giving up on just trying to edit the Frankenstein's Monster that was the previous draft of this chapter. Except that draft was nowhere near as erudite as the Monster. Happens sometimes when a fic chapter goes through two years of edit cycles XP)_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	34. Chapter 33

_Saylee—Pokémon: 21 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 2_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 8:12 am}_

 _{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

When Saylee woke up and saw daylight streaming through the window, she wondered for a moment how long she'd been asleep. A check of her pokégear clock showed that it was only about eight in the morning. _Good, we can easily get to Snowpoint today if— wait, doesn't the sun only rise at about ten now?_

She'd gotten up to go open the window to have more of a look around, but as soon as she tried to open it the bright light died down, showing that the window was in fact a windowscreen. Outside was still dark and thick with snow; the screen had just been set to show a nice day.

She looked around and saw that somebody had hung her dreamcatcher over her bed for her. She smiled at the rush of warmth that came with remembering that Blue was there with her, that he'd be fighting alongside her as well as Key against Galactic. She was even something like happy to remember that they'd found Archie Irving; true, he _was_ still wanted for an extensive laundry list of crimes including unprecedented levels of manslaughter, but at least she'd actually found somebody she was looking for.

 _And for the time being…_ she thought, picking up her belt and looking thoughtfully at Shanks' pokeball, _the enemy of my enemy might be… a useful ally to be carefully watched. But still._

She changed into clean clothes as quickly as she could and stepped out into the hall in search of Blue and breakfast. Most of the doors in the hall were ajar, showing unoccupied rooms, but the door next to hers and the one directly opposite were all closed, likely Key and Archie's rooms.

"Good morning," Mariah said, smiling brightly as Saylee stepped into the communal room. She was doling out an omelette onto a plate in front of Archie, which was far too surreal a sight for Saylee to really process in under half an hour of wakefulness. "Sleep well? You looked like you could use it. Now, how about a nice hot breakfast? Oatmeal? Pancakes? Bacon and eggs? Toast?"

"Toast would be great, thank you," Saylee said, sitting down across from Archie, who was drinking coffee and pointedly avoiding her eyes. "Morning."

"Mornin'," he muttered, watching Mariah head back through to the kitchen. "So. Now that you've slept, am I getting fitted for a coffin or a prison jumpsuit when the blizzard goes down?"

"You're lucky I have bigger things to worry about," Saylee said, pouring herself some tea from the pot on the table. A spread of things like jam, honey and butter was set out between the drinks. "I can't believe I'm saying that, and I really wish I didn't, but taking you back to Hoenn would take time that Barry Palmer and the Hikari kids might not have, and Blue's right that we can't hand you over to the Sinnoh authorities. They're not inherently bent but plenty of key figures are under duress, and arresting you here basically amounts to selling you to Galactic, which would be bad for a whole _host_ of reasons. Besides, you I judge to be less dangerous than Galactic at this time, and certainly less evil. That's not a compliment to your moral compass, by the way, just a complaint about how mind-bogglingly awful Galactic are."

"I'll take it anyway," Archie said, looking curiously at her. "Think you'd trust me to fight alongside you against Galactic?"

"I don't _trust_ you, but I know you're not going to kill me… on purpose, anyway," she couldn't help adding. Archie winced, looking nervously at the pokeball that she placed on the table. "And I know that you want to take Galactic down just as much as any of us." She tapped the pokeball to open it.

"Uhhhh… when you said you weren't arresting me just now…" Archie said, staring nervously at the Gengar that materialized over the table, "are you just going to do something horrible to me instead? Because setting a ghost-type on a fugitive doesn't seem anything near lawful, and actually in the last few months-"

"Holy shit," Shanks interrupted, staring at Archie in shock before grinning widely. "Ya found 'im! Ya actually found 'im!"

"Wh…" Archie's eyes widened as he recognized the Gengar's voice. "It… it can't be… _Shanks_?!"

"Just 'cause I'm dead don't mean I'm lettin' you run off on your own, Kiddo," Shanks said, floating upside-down around his stunned former trainer.

"I can't believe it's _you_ ," Archie whispered, reaching out to Shanks as if to hug the ghost. His arms only went through the purple vapour, making him shudder as if cold, but he still broke into a massive grin even as his eyes welled with tears. "I thought I'd lost you…"

"I'm sorry, Kiddo," Shanks said gently, hovering as closely to Archie as he could without accidentally going through him. "I promised Adrian I'd look after ya, an' I left ya while ya were fightin' some real bad bastards."

"That wasn't your fault!" Archie yelled sharply, rubbing at his eyes. " _I'm_ your trainer, I'm supposed to watch your back and warn you about threats, and if I had just-" He narrowed his eyes, growling angrily under his breath. " _Galactic_ are the ones that murdered you," he snarled, "and they're going to _pay_ for it!"

"Damn straight!" Shanks said, his grin widening so much that his head nearly split in half. "Ya still gotta avenge my death, Kiddo, and I'm plannin' on helpin' ya do it!"

"Okay, I've been having this conversation every other week with Caelin, so I'd like to nip this in the bud now," Saylee said sharply. "This isn't all about personal revenge. It _can't_ be. I know how much we all _want_ revenge for those we've lost, but…" She glared pointedly at Archie. "If I killed you with a butter knife here and now, Archie, it wouldn't do a damn bit of good for Winnie, or William, or Polly. It wouldn't do a damn bit of good for anybody else who died when the Battle of Sootopolis happened. It might give some people some comfort to know that you're not still out there somewhere, but it won't bring back what they've lost, and it won't do me any good at _all_. Not just because, you know, murder is very illegal and I'm the head of Kanto's law enforcement and all the kinds of bad that would be for the entire system that I'm trying to set up and everybody under it, but because of the kind of path it would set me on. There used to be an understanding in Kanto that sometimes, you have to kill, whether to eat or to keep from being eaten, and you can't control that, but when you are in control, when you have a choice… there's no good reason to kill when you can choose not to. So when we go after Galactic, we're doing it to put them in cuffs, not coffins, understood? We need to stop them because of the people they'll hurt in the future, not hurt them because of the ones they've already killed."

Archie's expression had slowly darkened over the course of her words. "...Hell of a speech from a woman who hasn't eaten breakfast yet," he said with a small hint of bitterness.

"I haven't slept that well in a while," Saylee said with a shrug, wrapping her hands around her mug of tea, "and your primary motivation for a solid decade has been revenge, Archie. And look where that got us."

Archie flinched again, but narrowed his eyes on Saylee angrily. "Is that really what you think of me?" he asked quietly. "You think I'm _that_ much of an idiot? You really think my goal here is _murder_?"

"Can you promise me it isn't?" Saylee asked, meeting his glare head-on.

Archie opened his mouth, but snapped it quickly shut again when Mariah returned from the kitchen with the biggest stack of toast that Saylee had ever seen. "You and your friend didn't eat anything before you went to bed last night," she explained when Saylee's eyes bugged at the sight of the food, "and I figured you'd both need a good breakfast after fighting through that blizzard!"

"Thank you _so much_ ," Saylee breathed, reaching for the butter.

"You're welcome, dear," the woman said with a gentle smile, setting the plate down. "Call if you need anything. I'll be in the next room, repairing some ski equipment." She walked off through a door by the fireplace, where Sally and Star were still sleeping in a tangle of black fur and large bodies.

"...She's right, ya know, Kiddo," Shanks said softly as soon as the door clicked closed behind Mariah. "Obsessin' over gettin' revenge on Marc never helped ya any. Just stuck ya in yer own pain fer ten years. I don't wanna see that happen ta ya again, even fer Mark an' Rapier… I didn't really know 'em, but I know they didn't deserve ta die."

"Neither did Winnie, William or Polly," Archie murmured, glancing sidelong at Saylee as she focused on buttering her tower of toast. "Or Teddy. Or… anybody." He shook his head. "I _know_ , okay? I just… honestly, at first I only got involved because Blue pretty much forced me to, but seeing what Galactic's done, I know that whatever they're planning to do can't be good for anybody. If I can do anything against them, anything at all, any little bit of good in this world.. I'll take it." He raised an eyebrow. "Blue said that just because I might never be able to redeem myself for what I've already done doesn't mean I shouldn't try."

"He… blames himself too much for things that are past," Saylee sighed, picking up a slice of toast that she'd buttered so heavily that it was dripping, "and for mistakes that he won't be repeating. When all's said and done, there are worse problems in this world than people who make mistakes… Aqua and Magma, you guys were just dumb, not _evil._ I know evil. Galactic are more like Rocket, killing anybody in their way just because they can, arranging circumstances so that they can do exactly as they please without consequences, without caring who gets hurt."

"Damn, Specs, if ya glare any harder at that toast, yer gonna burn it black," Shanks commented, waving a hand in front of Saylee's distant glare.

"Sorry… just thinking," Saylee said quietly. "We never did find Giovanni. The kind of manipulativeness that Galactic's engaging in… I wouldn't be surprised to find his hand in it, honestly." She picked up another slice of toast but didn't eat it, instead picking at the crust with a frown.

"And if he was involved?" Archie challenged. "The look on your face right now is pretty revengey. I know you fought Rocket out of Kanto-I bet he killed a lot of your Pokemon too, huh? Maybe even some people you knew. Are you really going to lecture me about personal vendettas when-"

"You're right that it _is_ pretty personal between me and Giovanni," Saylee interrupted, clenching a fist around the toast in her hand, "but not for the reasons you think. He's-" She sucked in a deep, angry breath, crushing the toast in her hand to a buttery pulp. "Ah, shit," she muttered, dropping the pulped toast down on her now nearly empty plate. "I hate him," she admitted softly, wiping the butter off her hand with a napkin.

"And you _promise_ you wouldn't go overboard if he did turn out to be involved?" Archie said sardonically.

"This is different," Saylee snapped. "It's my responsibility to bring him in, as the Chief Ranger of Kanto…" She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "And as his daughter," she exhaled.

Archie's eyebrows shot up as his eyes widened. "Your _dad_ was the head of the Rocket Syndicate?" he said incredulously. " _You_? You're even more self-righteous than Marc!"

"Look who's talking," Saylee shot back. "And don't say _dad_ , it's way too familiar. Thanks to the memory event, he never knew I existed-well, we fought plenty of times in Kanto, but we only knew each other as enemies. I didn't know he was my… was _related_ to me until after he'd disappeared, and I don't know if… I mean, my brothers and I have been added to his family registry and those things are public record, so I suppose it's possible that he knows that we're related now, but if he does he's never sent a postcard from whatever bolthole he's hiding in." She narrowed her eyes on Archie. "This isn't about me and him, anyway. This is about your poor track history with handling 'feeling revengy'."

"Well, maybe before you judge me on the couple of months we fought in Hoenn, you could ask Blue for what he thinks of the last few months here in Sinnoh," Archie grumbled.

"Dumb but effective?" Blue suggested as he walked in, smelling like shampoo with his hair flopping damply out of his usual spikes. "Nice to see you're feeling less like maiming anybody this morning," he said, pecking Saylee on the cheek as he sat down next to her. "I mean, I suppose in this blizzard we could just ditch his body outside and it'd be gone in minutes, but finding it again to bury it properly afterwards would be a hassle, you know?"

"Ain't happenin', 'cause we've been talkin' and we've figured things out, ain't we?" Shanks said, folding his arms and looking pointedly from his former trainer to his new one.

"We've come to an understanding, I think," Saylee said, running her fingers through Blue's hair to spike it back up. "There. Gives you less of the drowned Rattata look."

"Is she serious when she says her old man's _Giovanni_?" Archie wanted to know, pointing at Saylee.

"You told him that?" Blue said curiously to Saylee.

"It came up," she said with a shrug. "It's not a _secret_ , I just don't make it the first thing I tell people."

"Thought you told the Princess you didn't have any family drama," Sally drawled as she loped up to the table, yawning widely enough to display the whole range of her huge fangs.

"Are you deceiving your Pokemon into thinking you have a stable family life?" Blue said in mock horror. "Lies and slander!"

"I just said I didn't have any family conflict _like hers_ ," Saylee corrected him. "There aren't any inheritance disputes at all. Well, Lucy and her brothers to an incredibly mild degree, but nothing like Caelin's family. Silver and I had our differences at first, but we're fine now."

"He'll vehemently deny it, but the kid worships you," Blue said with a grin. "And you always hero-worshipped Red. Whereas _I'm_ still pissed at that idiot for up and dying on you."

"I'm sorry about your brother," Sally said softly, butting her head against Saylee's arm. "I'm, uh… also really hungry. Do you know where I could get some food before Twinke wakes up? She used to steal mine all the time when we were Shinx."

"If you go find Mrs and Mrz Trent, they'll make you breakfast," Saylee said, pointing at the door that Mariah had vanished through. Sally blinked briefly into x-ray vision as she peered through the door before she padded over, biting the knob in her teeth to open it and then vanishing down the hall.

"How _did_ you get onto the topic of that bastard, anyway?" Blue asked conversationally, folding his arms on the tabletop.

"We were talking about the nature of evil," Saylee said with a shrug, pouring herself some more tea.

Blue arched an eyebrow. "Over breakfast?" he asked.

"About your brother… for whatever it's worth, you have my condolences," Archie offered tentatively. "I can't stand Juan, but still…"

"Given how well you took your dad's death, let's hope nothing happens to Juan," Saylee said pointedly.

"At least you never flooded the planet," Blue said encouragingly to Saylee, pouring himself some tea. She passed him the sugar bowl and he started spooning sugar into his tea.

"Enough a' that," Shanks said sharply as Mariah walked back into the room with Sally.

"Good morning, Mr Oak," Mariah said with a smile. "Would you like me to get you some breakfast while I'm putting something together for Sally here?"

"Some cereal would be great, thanks," Blue said. He gave Sally's ears a scratch as she padded over to them, while Mariah went through to the kitchen again.

"I'm thinkin' we need ta start focusin' on what we're gonna do after we get outta this cabin, instead a' what came before," Shanks said firmly.

"Like finding Barry," Saylee groaned, resting her forehead on her hand with a sigh. "We _have_ to get to that kid before Galactic does… There are avatars all over the bloody country, Blue. Dawn and Lucas—the second they got Uxie and Mesprit, Galactic ripped it out of them. They're just kids, and I was _right there_ when they got Dawn…"

"You were unconscious, Lee," Key pointed out, wandering in and flopping in a chair on Saylee's other side, wrapped in a fluffy white dressing gown over her pyjamas. "It is _way_ too early in the morning to be hashing over this stuff…"

"We've got plenty of time to hash later," Blue agreed. "It's gonna be a couple more days until this snowstorm blows it out, they say. Give us time to do some proper training, anyway. I've spent so much time tracking this idiot—" he jerked his thumb at Archie, "—and trying to find this moron—" he pointed at Saylee, "—that I feel like I haven't been able to get proper training time in in ages. Maybe if I had, Pete…" Saylee squeezed his hand. He took a deep breath and shook his head. "No. Those harpoons weren't normal. Diamondite edging or some shit."

"Then those harpoons were specially made to kill Pokémon?" Key said in horror. "That's… why would they do that?"

"My thinking is 'to kill Pokémon'," Blue volunteered.

"They've already shown that they're more than willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, whatever the hell those are," Saylee sighed. "So getting in some hardcore training time until this blizzard runs out sounds like a good plan to me."

Mariah reappeared with Blue's cereal. "Ahh, everybody's up now!" she said brightly. "What would you like for breakfast, Key? And what would your Pokémon like? It's important for them to have a good meal before they start training, you know."

{}

{}

 _This one is all talky and no actiony, but we hope it's worth it-older versions were much more rushed, particularly in regards to Archie and Shanks' reunion, which really deserves some weight because even though they've only been apart for a little over a week, their separation was traumatic, to put it mildly. The next scene is the four of them bringing out ALL of their Pokemon to introduce and reunite, and that's very much a chapter all of its own XP_

 _More importantly, Key is HERE! :D Just for this week, but nevertheless, :DDDDDDDDDD_

 _We also feel that it's important for you to know that_ Captain America: Civil War _is incredibly very good. The Russos have not lost their touch and they have been frankly inspirational in terms of handling huge numbers of characters well. The movie also may or may not have influenced some of the thoughts on revenge and personal motivations that come up in this chapter._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	35. Chapter 34

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 10:10 am_ }

{ _Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

Because the lodge primarily catered to groups of skiiers and snowboarders, the training hall was much smaller than the cavernous rooms usually found in Pokémon Centres and hostels on routes frequented by trainers. The ceiling was high, at least, allowing a bit of space for winged Pokémon to fly, but the floorspace was only half the size of a regulation battlefield. When Saylee saw it, she started calculating how many they could have out at a time, who would be best to train with who, how to use the space efficiently without slacking on anybody's training.

"This is tiny!" Key exclaimed.

"Yeah, we noticed," Star muttered as she and Sally loped into the room. "Everybody's gotta take turns at training."

"We've got to introduce everybody to each other first, though, right?" Sally asked, sniffing obnoxiously at the pokeballs in Archie's hands until Star batted her sister away with a paw to her nose. Sally stuck her tongue out at Star and then turned back to her trainer. "The Princess said that you have Prince! I'd like to finally meet this guy, and I'm sure that Terra would be overjoyed to see him again…"

Saylee scratched behind Sally's torn-up ears. "Should we reunite Caelin, Prince and Terra first, then?"

"You think Prince is ready for that?" Blue asked Archie.

Archie singled out a pokeball that had to be Prince's, staring contemplatively at it. "I think so," he said slowly. "I think he has a lot to say to Caelin, anyway. I don't know about Terra…"

"I think she'll be happy to see him," Key assured him, edging away from Star before releasing her little Turtwig.

"Keep your distance, twiglet," Star snarled possessively. Terra took a startled step backwards.

Saylee released Caelin, who immediately took in Star glaring at Terra and scooped her handmaiden up in her arms. "Sal, control your sister," the princess ordered imperiously.

"Never seen _anybody_ do that," Sally muttered, smiling at Terra. "Terra, this is my sister Star. Star, be nice to Terra, she's my friend."

"It is an honour to meet you," Terra said politely, bowing her head slightly to Star. "Your sister is an exemplary warrior and a great Luxray. You must be very proud."

"Well… yeah," Star said, tipping her her and then backing up to sit next to Archie.

Caelin narrowed her eyes on Archie. "And we believe that this human is Prince's kidnapper," she continued coldly.

"Enough with the _kidnapper_ stuff, okay?" Archie grumbled as Terra narrowed her eyes in a glare startlingly similar to her princess'. "Prince _wanted_ to… you know what, I'll let him explain himself." He opened the pokeball that he'd singled out.

The regal black-and-blue Pokémon towered over Saylee, the golden crest that curved around his head making him look even taller. Though he was a foot and a half taller than Caelin, he shrank back nervously as Caelin's crowning flame flared up angrily when she noticed him. "Prince!" she snapped. "So, we find you at last! What have you to say for yourself?"

"Princess!" the Empoleon said in surprise, straightening up. "What a surprise to see you here…"

"Prince!" Terra said, sounding somewhat happier. "You're okay!"

"We shall see," Caelin said darkly.

"Forgive us, Princess," Prince said, bowing until he was deferentially lower than Caelin. "What can we say? We knew you longed to be stronger and rise in your clan. We only hoped to raise our own strength to your equal."

"And you could not _tell_ us this before allowing yourself to be kidnapped by this villain _because_ …?" Caelin snapped, gesturing at Archie.

"Don't you trash talk _my_ boys," Star snarled, fur rising as she sparked angrily.

"Leave it, Twinkle," Sally said, nipping at her sister's ear. "This is important."

"Time was short… but you are right," Prince sighed. "I was wrong not to inform you first. Forgive me. I have heard humans say, though, that it is better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission," he added with a little smile.

"Tch… spineless," Caelin muttered. "We beg for _nothing._ You are still beneath us…" she glared up at him. "...no matter how much taller you have become."

"He has certainly raised his strength, has he not, my lady?" Terra pointed out, smiling up at Prince. She tilted her head, her smile fading a little. "Though… you look like no Empoleon I have ever seen," she added. "Are you quite alright, Prince?"

"My evolution was indeed… unnatural," he admitted, reaching self-consciously for his crest. "But I am uninjured and in no pain, I simply look different, that is all."

Blue nudged Saylee with his elbow, showing her the screen of his pokedex. The Empoleon depicted on it bore a golden trident crest on its face rather than the curved crown that arched over the back of Prince's head, and the majority of its body was black, not the gentle blue that Prince was.

"Signal?" Saylee whispered. Blue nodded with a grim expression on his face.

"If you have indeed sought to raise your strength, do you too seek to claim your clan's throne?" Caelin asked Prince. "When we defeat Indra, the pair of us will no longer be viable as mates, but…" she smiled proudly at him. "We would be proud to have one so tenacious as an ally."

"I am honoured," Prince said, smiling back. "As for my clan… I do not know, at this time. I may have the power, perhaps, but I also have the power now to take any other fate of my choosing. I have not chosen yet, but…"

"Well, we suppose we have more pressing matters to concern ourselves now," Caelin allowed. "Galactic's fate must come swiftly. Do you intend to fight alongside us to that end?"

"But of course," Prince said, bowing again. "Not as a prince of the waterlands, nor as your betrothed… but simply as a Pokemon of this land who will no longer allow these transgressions to pass." His expression darkened. "For it must be done," he muttered softly. "Done it must be to guard ourselves, and for it…"

"We apologize for nothing," Caelin said darkly. "Very well. Let us meet your companions, and then we shall introduce you to our own retinue."

"I _think_ that went well….?" Saylee muttered.

"Nothing's on fire, so I guess so," Key suggested.

Terra glanced over at them. "My lady, perhaps we ought to introduce our humans to Prince first?" she suggested.

"But of course… these are our trusted advisors, Sar Saylee and Lady Key," Caelin said, gesturing to Saylee and Key. "And Terra, the other human is Sar Kanto's mate, Sir Blue."

"Not Sir, Lord or anything like that," Blue said with a shrug. "Just Blue. Blue Oak."

"I'm honoured to make your acquaintance," Prince said, bowing politely to Saylee and Key. "And Star, who is this other Luxray and why are you tolerating her standing so close to you? That's unusual."

"This is my cub sister, Sally," Star said, nudging up against Sally. "Her I can tolerate. The rest of them _really_ need to back away from my boys."

"We were here first," Key shot back. "So, Archie, can we meet the rest of your Pokémon? And can I meet yours too, Blue? I mean, I bet Lee already knows them all, but…"

"Actually, I've picked up a couple new ones," Blue said, picking a couple of pokéballs out of his pocket.

"You? You _hate_ training new Pokémon," Saylee said in surprise, openly gaping at the pokeballs.

"Yeah, well, stuff happens… Archie first," Blue said, mock-bowing Archie forwards while pocketing his pokeballs again.

"Well, aside from Prince and Star…" Archie pulled four more pokéballs out of his pocket, stared at one for a long moment, then pocketed it with a shudder before releasing a Beautifly, a Rapidash and a Buizel. "Warin, Pegasus and Basil… meet Princess Caelin, Terra, Key, Saylee and Sally."

"Oh, he's _gorgeous,_ " Saylee blurted out, reaching a hand out towards the Rapidash, before quickly jerking it back. "Whoops… I'm asking to get burned doing that. Sorry."

"No, no, darling… _do_ continue," the Rapidash said, flaring his mane proudly.

"Watch out, Archie, I think Pegasus has a new favourite human," the Beautifly said wryly, before fluttering over to the pin in Key's hair. "Hey, is that-? Oh, wait, it's not real…" He coughed delicately and fluttered around in front of Key. "Uh, hi," he said awkwardly. "I'm Warin… but you knew that already."

"You're gorgeous too," Key offered.

"Damn straight," Warin said proudly.

" _Please_ don't get them competing over who's more beautiful," Prince muttered. "And try not to startle Basil. He can be a little jumpy."

"I'm not _that_ —AAAAH!" Basil shrieked, flipping about a foot in the air as Shanks materialized through the floor.

"Ahhh, that never gets old," Shanks chuckled. He turned to Prince. "'Sup, Swabbie. I see you survived meetin' your lady again, huh?"

"Is that… _Shanks_?" Prince gasped. "You became a _ghost_? Did Pete—?"

"Nah, just me," Shanks said, waving He glanced sideways at Blue. "He, uh… well, don't know how ta explain the whole thing, but he didn't want ta stay," the dead Sharpedo said a little awkwardly. "Said being a ghost wasn't his scene, and he had faith ya'd handle shit without him anyways…"

"...Yeah, I couldn't see Pete staying as a ghost," Blue admitted, rubbing his arms as if chilled, even though the cabin was very well heated, especially with Pegasus preening his flaring mane. "We've dealt with ghosts enough, and they're..." he shuddered again, glancing at Saylee. "Fair warning, Shanks is by far the least freaky ghost in this building right now."

"The _least…_ how many ghosts _are_ there here?!" Saylee asked, looking around nervously.

"Just one more," Blue assured her, "it's just a doozy."

"Is it something to do with that last pokéball that you put back in your pocket?" Key asked.

Archie nodded. "This one, uh… kinda possessed me for a while," he said, taking the Ultra Ball back out of his pocket and showing it to them. "His name's Sutekh… probably… and he's a ghost-type called a Spiritomb. Long, gruesome story short—seriously, if you want to know how Spiritomb are made, look it up yourself because I want to puke just _thinking_ about it—he's made up of a hundred and eight angry human souls and he's kinda Zubatshit insane. He's a bit easier to control now that I've got him in a pokéball, and he's got a lot of power that comes in handy in a pinch, but I kinda prefer not taking him out if at all possible. I hope you don't mind me not introducing him."

"Most ghosts are pretty unpleasant one way or another, so yeah, that's fine," Saylee said quickly. Shanks made a face at her. "Okay, Gengar are one thing when you're not in a malevolent mood, but as it happens I have heard _rumours_ about how Spiritomb are made and I really don't wanna learn more."

"We do not approve of this criminal having control of a dangerous spirit," Caelin said with a frown.

"Would you _stop_ callin' him a criminal?" Star growled angrily.

"He kinda _is_ , Twinkle," Sally chastised her sister. "Y'know, with the whole committing crimes thing…"

Blue laughed. "She's got you pegged," he said, nudging Archie.

"We'll deal with him after Galactic," Saylee said, looking curiously at her boyfriend. "Your turn, Blue. Who are your new Pokémon?"

Blue juggled his pokéballs with a grin; three that Saylee knew, three that she didn't. "You're gonna love 'em," he promised, tossing the first few into the air.

{}

{}

 _Okay, introductions are gonna take a while and this chapter got ABSURDLY overlong so I've split it-the key part of this one is Caelin, Terra and Prince reuniting, after all. Next week will be the end of introducing characters to each other and on with the plot, I promise :P (And for anybody who's curious and hasn't been reading Deliverance, I did actually write a recipe to create a Spiritomb. Warning for gore and the fact that I have a more than slightly morbid sense of humour.)_

 _Tragically, Key has left me again to go on to further travel in the US Q_Q Wish her luck and no more shenanigans in airports!_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	36. Chapter 35

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 10:20 am}_

 _{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

Sam, Gary and Adam were all Pokémon that Blue had had for years, and Saylee knew them well. Seeing the Blastoise, Arcanine and Alakazam again was like another little piece of home, almost as much as Blue himself was.

"Hey, girl! It's great to see you!" Sam said enthusiastically, sweeping Saylee up in a tight hug. "Glad we found you. How are you?"

"Much better for seeing you all," Saylee said, patting Sam's solid underbelly. The huge Blastoise was experienced enough with humans that, despite having armoured arms that could punch through walls, her hugs were gentle and secure. Gary gave Saylee an enthusiastic lick on the cheek and got a scratch behind the ears in return. Adam, as an Alakazam, wasn't big on physical contact, but he stroked his long moustache and smiled warmly in greeting. To Saylee's shock, Star nodded to Sam in a surprisingly amiable greeting, and Sam nodded back.

"Er… hi?" Sally asked, looking warily between her sister and Sam.

"Sar, introduce us," Caelin ordered as Sam set Saylee down. "You are familiar with these warriors?"

"Guys, this is Princess Caelin of Coronet," Saylee explained, gesturing to Caelin, "and that's her steed and primary bodyguard, Star's little sister Sally. The little Turtwig is her handmaid Terra. And the new human is Lady Key Weaves."

"Ahh, the famous Key," Adam said with a slow nod. He tipped his head thoughtfully as he looked from Caelin to Prince.

"A Princess, huh?" Gary said with a grin.

Sam immediately levelled her cannons at the Arcanine. "No establishing dominance," she said flatly.

"Everyone, this is Sam, Gary and Adam," Saylee said, gesturing to each Pokemon in turn and casually stepping in between Gary and Caelin as the princess' eyes narrowed. "And… who are the newcomers?" Saylee asked Blue. Three more Pokemon were standing by the wall next to Blue, watching the introductions curiously. Saylee only recognized the species of two of them and had seen none of them with Blue before.

"Well, first up is Eira," Blue said, pointing a scruffy-looking Electabuzz, who stretched and yawned before sitting down against the wall. "Eira, can you at least say hello before going to sleep? This is my girlfriend Saylee, her friend Key and their Pokémon," Blue said in exasperation. Eira cracked an eye open, waved lazily at Saylee, and then went back to sleep, ignoring Star bristling at her.

"Are you certain that this one is a warrior?" Caelin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only when she's actually fighting," Prince chuckled.

"I'm surprised that _you're_ letting a Pokémon get away with being that lazy," Saylee commented.

"Yeah, well, she does actually do her training and win her fights, and she really throws herself into it, so…" Blue said with a shrug. "She's kind all or nothing, and completely fearless, as you can see." Star was now growling less than an inch from Eira's face, and Eira was continuing to placidly ignore her. Unlike Sam, Star appeared to have no mutual respect with the other female electric-type. "Girish is a lot more lively, though. And _really_ serious about training..."

The next Pokémon that he introduced was a stout, purple-and-red creature with a dragon-like head and spikes for hands. "Hello," he said. "So, are we training together or-?"

"You are a Gabite!" Caelin said excitedly. "A dragon! Sar Kanto, your mate has powerful allies!"

"I'm not gonna be a Gabite for long," Girish replied seriously. "It's only a matter of time before I'm a Garchomp."

"Definitely much more enthusiastic than Eira," Saylee commented with a laugh. "How did you wind up with these guys anyway?"

"Well, we met Girish while we were moving around underground with your new grandpa," Blue said. Archie suddenly made a choking noise. "Archie, c'mon, I know we covered that Jules is Byron's dad, and that Byron's married to Saylee's mum…"

"I know, I'm just marvelling at how many people in this country that I've run into that are related to you," Archie said sheepishly. "I came to Sinnoh to _avoid_ you and Key, you know."

"And we all applaud your failure," Key chipped in, giggling as Gary sniffed her cheek and gave her a lick in greeting. "Hi, there! You're an Arcanine, right?"

"Yep," Gary said, peering down his nose at her. "I'm the leader of Blue's team!" Sam's shell clicked open, showing her cannons. "Fine… second-in-command."

"Still haven't beaten her, huh?" Saylee laughed.

"One day, I promise you…" Gary muttered under his breath. Sam just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway… last new guy is Rashad," Blue said, indicating the Lucario who, since being released, was staring at Saylee with steadily narrowing eyes.. "I actually got stuck with him as an egg. This guy named Riley—"

"You met Riley too?" Saylee asked in surprise. "Actually, he gave me an egg too…." She looked at Rashad, the phantom wound in her chest aching so sharply that she couldn't help pressing her hand to it, as if it could mute the memory of pain.

"Your aura… it's familiar," he said in surprise. "It's just like…"

"…Your brother's?" Saylee suggested softly, her fist clenching over her collarbone.

"If you were my brother's trainer…" Rashad asked, clenching his paws, "please tell me… what happened to him? I felt it… I felt it when he died. We never met, not physically, but… our eggs were laid at the same time. We were _connected_ …"

"I know," Saylee said quietly. It felt like the temperature of the room had dropped. "I was connected to him too. When Mars killed him, I felt it like she'd killed me." She patted her chest. "Diamondite spear. None of us even knew she was there until she'd fired it. I'm sorry, Rashad. I wish I could've protected it. I'm so sorry…" Blue put an arm around her shoulders gently.

Rashad clenched his teeth, nodding tightly. "What… what was his name?" he asked quietly. "My brother… what was his name?"

"Roar," Saylee replied.

Rashad nodded again. "Roar," he said quietly. "Killed by Mars. I'll remember that."

"Roar was one of our warriors," Caelin said, putting a hand on Rashad's shoulder. "We have sworn to avenge his death. Mars will deeply regret our loss."

"I still haven't managed to convince her that mass murder isn't an acceptable response," Saylee muttered to Blue. "Any suggestions?"

"Not really, but I think I'm gonna keep Rashad away from her," Blue muttered back. "Trust me. As someone who is intimately aware of his feelings, he would be very up for that."

"Okay then, distractions," Saylee suggested, taking a couple of pokeballs out of her pocket. "You guys already know Caelin, Sally and Shanks, so I guess I should introduce Zoe and Ferne."

"They're both female," Sally said warningly to her sister, "and Zoe is my best friend, so be nice."

"No," Star said stubbornly. Sally protectively put herself between her sister and the spot where Zoe and Ferne materialized. The rest of the Pokemon started to fan out, making a rough circle around where the new Pokemon were released, though Saylee couldn't help noticing that Shanks had wandered off and had no idea how to recall the ghost when he was out of sight.

"Oh, wow!" Basil said shyly, staring up at Ferne in awe. "You're a _Floatzel_! What's that… what's that like?"

"Pretty cool," Ferne said, peering down at the little Buizel. "My name's Ferne. What's yours?"

"Basil," Basil said, sniffing at Ferne's floatation ring. "…How fast can you swim?"

"Faster than anybody else here," she responded with a grin, eying Sam and Prince speculatively. "...I bet. Probably. Is there a river where we can test that?"

Zoe, meanwhile, was looking around at the new Pokemon before making to fly over to Sally. "I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Prince said warningly, intercepting her.

"Why? What's up?" Zoe said, looking at Sally in confusion as she flapped her wings rapidly to hover more-or-less in place.

"Zoe, this is my sister Star, who has issues," Sally said, batting a paw at Star, who was growling. "Star, do _not_ try to eat Zoe. Her prosthetic wings won't taste good."

"Prostheses? My goodness, what happened to you?" Warin asked, fluttering over to Zoe.

"Galactic," Zoe said simply, glancing over her prosthetic left wings.

"That is simply awful," Warin gasped. "If anyone had so defaced _my_ glorious wings… How could they do something so horrible?!"

"Warin, they are culpable for a heartbreaking number of murders," Pegasus pointed out patiently. "She's very lucky to be alive. I'm Pegasus," he introduced himself, "and this vain fool is Warin."

"Oh, yeah, because _you_ never fuss over your beloved _mane_ at all," Warin huffed. "Zoe, is it? Hold still, dear, and allow me to help." He started fluttering in circles around Zoe, shimmering, coloured dust falling from his wings and onto Zoe's in intricate patterns. Zoe fluttered her wings a few times, but the dust didn't come off, remaining in patterns of shimmering colour.

"They're so beautiful!" Zoe said excitedly. "Wow!"

"That's sweet of you, Warin," Saylee said with a smile, taking out her pokegear to take a photo of Zoe's new wings. "Thank you!"

"How did he do that?" Key exclaimed, peering at the new patterns.

"I had no idea that he could do that," Archie admitted. He put a hand over his purple hair. "...it's probably a good thing that he doesn't do that more."

"You look fine indeed, Zoe," Caelin said proudly, holding out her right arm so that the Crobat could roost there instead. She glared at Shanks as he reappeared through a wall, looking thoughtful. "Please, Lady Key, introduce the rest of our entourage, now that _we are all here,_ " she said pointedly.

"Oh, good idea," Key said, releasing her Pokémon. "Guys, meet Gareth, Ephraim, Raiden, Maya and Tashigi…"

The Aqua leader choked. "Tashigi?" Shanks repeated incredulously. "As in _Tash'_? The little fluttery squirt that followed the kiddo all the way from Gone-To-Shit-Land?" Tashigi stared back at him, then at her necklace, then back at Archie, her jaw dropping.

" _Archie_?!" she gasped. "Little Archie?!"

"You're alive?" Archie asked hoarsely, stepping forward and not quite daring to touch the Togetic despite raising his hand. "I thought that storm had…"

"Just blew me away," Tashigi said, continuing to stare at Archie. "My goodness… little Archie? Is that really _you_?" With a happy shriek, she flew into the former Aqua leader, hugging him tightly about the neck. Shanks reached towards them briefly, as if to join the hug, but when he touched Archie's back the former Aqua leader shivered involuntarily. Shanks pulled back his hands, still grinning as he watched them hug and hovering and close as he dared.

"Wait… the kid you used to know… was _Archie_?" Key said in surprise, looking from Archie to Tashigi.

"You don't have that Gameboy that I lost when I was twelve, do you?" Archie said with a choked laugh as he hugged Tashigi tight.

"I mean, apparently you own all of his old Pokemon," Blue said, rolling his eyes.

"Tashigi… is that man the little boy you told us about? The one you knew when you lived in a different country?" Gareth asked, looking thoughtfully at Archie.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Tashigi sniffed happily, hugging Archie. "Small world, huh?"

"Absolutely miniscule," Blue muttered with a sigh, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I'm starting to think that a god's getting mixed up with this… wait, I was joking, there isn't a god involved, is there?" he added when he caught Saylee's expression.

"Well, given how we ran into Tashigi… I'll explain later," Saylee said, rubbing her forehead.

"This is my sister, Star, _who is going to play nice with my friends_ ," Sally said sternly.

"Your sister, hmmm?" Ephraim said, flicking his tail and grinning. "My _my_ …"

"Is _he_ your friend?" Star asked. Sally shook her head and Star grinned ferally enough that Ephraim's ears flattened nervously.

"If you're feeling ready to start threatening each other," Saylee interrupted, "how about some training?"

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 11:35 am_ }

{ _Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

"Oh, hey, Specs, I just remembered what I was gonna tell ya," Shanks said, drifting away from the controlled chaos of the training field. Everyone had settled into sparring pairs, except for Basil-who was apparently nervous of fighting but was raptly watching Ferne bounce a Water Pulse back and forth with Prince-and Tashigi, who was chattering happily with Archie about anything and everything, though the Togetic's eyes were still a little red from her brief crying jag when she'd realized that Shanks was dead, a development that seemed to upset her more than him.

"You were going to tell me something?" Saylee asked, stepping back a little closer to the wall and out of the way of the Pokemon that were training.

"Yeah, but I got kinda distracted by all the tearful reunions," Shanks said with a shrug. "Anyway, I was ghostin' around, and I heard those innkeepers talkin' 'bout Galactic."

"What?" Blue said sharply, looking around from where he was observing Zoe and Warin practicing aerial moves on each other. "What about them?"

"Well, the green-haired one was tellin' the blonde that we're after Galactic, an' the blonde looked pretty freaked," Shanks explained. "Asked if greenie thought we 'knew'. Dunno what about, but they were both lookin' nervous…"

"Well, that's suspicious as hell," Blue muttered.

"Wait, you think they're involved with Galactic?" Archie asked in surprise. "No way. We've been here for days and they haven't done anything suspicious. They're just a nice couple running an inn."

"How do we know they haven't done anything suspicious?" Blue pointed out. "Until Saylee and Key got here, we've been the only guests here. We don't know what they're doing while we're training in here. Hell, even when we're not in here, they're always off repairing ski equipment or whatever. I mean, they said they only married and moved out here pretty recently, so I dunno, I figured that could be a euphemism or something, but if they're Galactic agents—"

"Uh, Blue?" Sam called from across the room. "You're talking about these two, right? The two in the doorway that Star's growling at?"

Mrz and Mrs Trent were standing in the doorway to the hall, both looking tense. Mrs Trent had her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach with a face like she was nursing cramps, and Mrz Trent had one arm wrapped around their wife's shoulders and the other on their hip, a grim expression on their face.

"Hey, no point beatin' around the bush," Shanks said with a shrug. "Let's just ask straight out. You two with Galactic or not?"

"Spying is rude," Mrz Trent growled.

"Hayley…" Mrs Trent sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Look, it's not what it sounds like. We were going to come talk to you, even if your… _friend_ … hadn't come wandering through the walls." She frowned at Shanks, then looked back to Saylee, Key, Blue and Archie, who were moving to stand between their visibly agitated Pokemon and the couple. "If you guys are fighting Team Galactic, we want to help."

"They _are_ part of Galactic!" Pegasus exclaimed. "Only Galactic villains refer to themselves as 'Team'! The rest of the humans call them Galactic Corp!"

"Well, from what we've been seeing on the news, _that_ cover's unravelling faster than a cheap sweater," Mrz Trent snorted, "but that probably means that Cyrus is close to getting what he wants."

"And just what might _that_ be?" Prince pressed. All of the Pokémon had broken off their training and were slowly encroaching on the couple, ringed behind their trainers.

"How do you know this information?" Saylee asked, folding her arms and glaring pointedly at the taller couple. " _Are_ you in Galactic?"

Mrs Trent sighed. "Yes, we were, okay?" she admitted tightly. "We used to be two of Team Galactic's top admins."

Archie grabbed Star as she lunged forwards with a snarl. "CAELIN, YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Saylee bellowed. "FERNE, DOUSE THAT FIRE! THE REST OF YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND THE NEXT POKÉMON TO MAKE A MOVE IS GOING BACK IN THEIR POKEBALL! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

Everybody froze in mid-attack aside from Ferne, who nervously sprayed water at the burning door while Mrz and Mrs Trent climbed back to their feet, having flung themselves out of the way of Caelin's enraged fire blast.

"You heard them, Sar!" Caelin snapped furiously. Sally joined Saylee in standing between the furious princess and the Trents, though the Luxray kept glancing back and forth as if unsure whether to stop Caelin from attacking or join her. "We are not safe here! This is surely a Galactic trap!"

"I'm not sensing any hostile intent," Rashad put in. Blue nodded along with him.

"Nor am I, Princess," Gareth mentioned. "It might be worth not killing them immediately."

"I'm not gonna call your mistrust unwarranted," Mrz Trent said, helping their wife up, "but I _am_ gonna bill you for that door."

"Would you at least hear us out before attempting to murder us?" Mrs Trent asked, edging away from the burning door. "Like I said, we were high-ranked admins. My codename was Neptune, and Hayley's was Uranus. We have a lot to say that you might be interested to hear."

"Where does Galactic come up with these dumbass codenames?" Blue muttered.

"I think we should hear them out," Sam offered diplomatically. "We can always tie 'em to a table and leave 'em for the cops if it sounds like they're talking crap."

"But what if they surprise attack us?" Basil asked nervously.

"There's way more of us than them," Ferne told him, patting her smaller compatriot on the head.

"I'm gonna search the place fer some a' them damn harpoons," Shanks muttered, vanishing into the ceiling.

"We would rather simply kill them," Caelin growled. "We have sworn a vendetta against Galactic and have little patience to suffer their ilk."

"My lady, may I counsel restraint?" Terra offered. "I must agree that their information may be valuable."

"How can we be assured that they are not spying on us or stalling us on Galactic's behalf?" Prince demanded.

"Mrz Trent, you said that you called Snowpoint Gym to tell them that you had guests who'd need a guide up the slope, right?" Saylee asked. Mrz Trent nodded. "So even in this blizzard, you have a working phone, right?"

"Yep," Mrz Trent said with a nod. "It's in the kitchen, next to the main stove."

"What are you going to do, call up Galactic for character references?" Archie asked.

"Sorta," Saylee said, stepping over the smouldering remains of the door. "Nobody kill anybody until I get back, okay?"

{}

{}

 _Sorry this is a day late, it needed a lot of editing that I just didn't get time to do this weekend, and juggling all these characters was a LOT of mental gymnastics… this is why you don't put thirty named characters in a room at once, kids XP_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	37. Chapter 36

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 11:40 am}_

 _{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

The kitchen was huge, with an anteroom full of uniforms suggesting that a fairly sizeable staff was employed during busy times, though Saylee was starting to seriously wonder if the Trents had actually seen any busy times or even really owned the place. It was entirely possible that, with the teleporters broken down and the lodge nearly inaccessible without them, that it had been abandoned for the duration, and the supposedly ex-Galactic members were simply hiding out in the out-of-the-way building. As Hayley had said, though, the phone was set into the wall next to the stove. Saylee flicked through her pokégear for Lance's number and then, after confirming that she still had no signal, dialled the wall phone.

" _Hello_?" Lance answered suspiciously.

"Sir Lance of Blackthorn," Saylee said, leaning back against the wall, looking back towards the hall to the training room. "How's the spying?"

" _Sar Saylee of Kanto! Better than the Guardianing, from what I hear. Please say you're working on not letting Galactic get the third Red Gem._ "

"I'm working on it," Saylee said tightly. _Lance has just set a new record for making me regret speaking to him…_ "What do they need the gems for?"

" _I'm working on finding that out_ ," Lance said lightly. " _But really, the best-case scenario that makes everybody's lives easier and probably longer is you stepping up and doing your job so nobody ever gets to see Galactic's plan in action._ "

"I said I'm working on it," Saylee growled, rubbing her forehead. "Just tell me if you've ever heard of a couple of Galactic admins called Uranus and Neptune."

" _The names do ring a bell… give me a minute,_ " Lance mumbled quietly to himself for a while. Just when Saylee was on the point of asking if he was taking the piss, he exclaimed, " _Ah! Of course. Right. That's it. I remember hearing Jupiter ranting about them. Said she wanted to kill them herself if she ever faced them. It's not an unusual distinction. I heard her having a similar rant about you and the Lady Key once._ "

"The feeling is mutual, at least on Caelin's part," Saylee sighed. "So they _are_ ex-Galactic members?"

" _I guess? They must've been pretty important to get codenames,_ " Lance admitted. " _From what I remember of Jupiter's rant, I gather that they went AWOL around the time that you and Blue totally didn't kill an admin called Mercury, and the rest of the inner circle's been spread pretty thin as a result."_

"Caelin will spread them into a thin red _paste_ if she catches them, and she's not the only one who's threatened to do that," Saylee grumbled. "And we _didn't_ murder that guy. What happened to him was… something he brought upon himself as a result of upsetting the ghosts of Lavender Town."

" _Uh-huh. I wish I could tell you more, but that's what I get for disguising as a mook. Cyrus certainly hasn't said anything about them, but he doesn't really talk about anything at all to me. Do you know that the only thing I've ever seen him eat is toast?_ Dry _toast. This man takes boring to an art form._ "

"Goodbye, Lance," Saylee said, hanging up. _They left Galactic around the time that Marcus Denzi died, huh…? Were they friends of his? Was that enough to send them running scared? Did they really turn on Galactic, or might they be looking for a way back in, like, say, offering up some of Galactic's enemies…?_ _I wonder if Agent Looker would know any more, since he's investigating them, but I have no clue how to contact him…_ Instead, she dialled her mother's number.

" _Saylee! It's so good to hear from you, sweetheart,"_ Johanna sighed in relief. " _I was worried that you got caught in that blizzard that's raging around Snowpoint right now…"_

"We did, but we found a lodge to stay in," Saylee assured her. "Has anybody heard from Barry or Riley?"

" _Not a word,_ " Johanna said. " _Barry still isn't picking up his phone, and it turns out that if Sir Riley has a phone number, nobody knows it…_ _But Byron's been keeping in touch with Candice, the Snowpoint Leader, and she hasn't seen anybody matching their description yet._ "

"Never mind Galactic, I hope they're not caught in the snowstorm…" Saylee said with a frown. "I'd better go. Something's come up."

" _Okay… be careful, sweetheart. I love you_."

"I love you too," Saylee promised, hanging up and and returning to the training hall. Hayley was making a very good go at glaring Star and Sally down, while Mariah just leaned into her spouse's embrace, repeatedly combing her fingers through her shimmering, wavy hair.

"Who'd you call?" Key asked curiously.

"A source that I will not name at this time," Saylee said, glancing at Hayley and Mariah, who were both frowning in confusion, "but he has spiky red hair, a thing for dragons, and he's an asshole."

"Ohhhhhh… that guy?" Key said, nodding.

"What guy?" Archie asked, looking confused.

"That odd person that we mistakenly attacked in Celestic Town?" Caelin asked. Saylee nodded.

"What's _he_ doing in Sinnoh?" Blue said apprehensively.

"Infiltrating Galactic and stalking Cyrus," Saylee explained. "I was just confirming that Uranus and Neptune had indeed left Galactic. Apparently Jupiter wants to flay you two alive."

"She wants to flay _everybody_ alive," Mariah said with a shrug, looking entirely unperturbed at the idea of the volatile Galactic admin wanting her guts for garters.

"All we did by bailing is move up the priority list," Hayley agreed. "The woman's definitely got what my old therapist called 'unresolved anger issues'."

"Sar, regardless of this information, we still do not believe that we can trust these two," Caelin snapped. "Whether or not they have left, if they once sought to join Galactic, they are low villains by nature!" Hayley bristled at the assessment, but visibly bit back an angry retort.

"I am not sensing deception," Adam offered, holding up one of his spoons as if that was supposed to mean something to anybody else. Gareth and Rashad both nodded in agreement, however. The combined opinion of two psychics and an aura reader seemed to have relaxed most of the Pokemon, but Caelin, Star and Sally were all still visibly on edge, and Girish was still scowling, though Saylee wasn't sure that a Gabite's expression allowed for much else.

"Yeah, their heartbeats are normal," Zoe agreed, flicking her large, pointed ears. "At least, since they calmed down from the Princess trying to attack them, their heartbeats haven't changed."

"Let us know if any of that changes," Blue said, looking from Zoe to Rashad. "Just because they told the truth about leaving Galactic doesn't mean they'll keep telling the truth." Saylee surreptitiously opened an audio recording app on her pokegear, wanting to be sure that they didn't miss anything that the couple had to say next.

"Then first things first: why are you coming to us?" Archie asked the couple. "If you're hiding out, why are you telling us anything? You claim you were going to before Shanks heard you, but..."

"If we had a reason to get out of Galactic, is it so hard to believe that we'd want it gone?" Mariah asked with a shrug.

" _Especially_ if Jupiter wants our hides," Hayley agreed.

"Why did you leave Galactic, then?" Prince asked skeptically. "I wouldn't expect them to recruit people who are prone to moral crises."

Mariah sighed, leaning her head on Hayley's shoulder. Hayley laid their own head on their wife's, squeezing her shoulders. "Emotions are among the things that will cease to exist if Cyrus gets his way," Hayley said quietly. "Let's just say that we're not as on board with that as we used to be. It's easy to hate emotions when you haven't felt any good ones."

"We're not going to pretend this is just out of altruistic concern for the fate of the world," Mariah added. "We just want to stay in love. And not be murdered by Jupiter."

"For love, mmm?" Ephraim sighed. "What a beautiful thing…" His ears drooped a little as he rested his head on his paws.

"I've heard of dumber reasons for doing stuff," Blue allowed. "So you said Cyrus wants to get rid of emotions? How's he gonna do that?"

"Is it something to do with the Lake Spirits?" Saylee asked. "Isn't one of them supposed to be the bringer of emotions? Mesprit?"

"Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie are only step one," Mariah sighed, running a hand through her hair again and starting to twist it in her hands. "I was working on the Red Chain project and it… gets big."

"How big?" Key pressed.

"What even is the Red Chain?" Maya asked curiously.

"Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie each have a red gem in their foreheads," Mariah explained, counting them off on her fingers. "They're superdense compactions of raw firmament. Matter can be unravelled from them and the molecules restructured to make—well, _anything_. You could build whole planets from fragments the size of a berry, which has been hypothesized was their original purpose due to the way their chemical compositions are—"

"Babe, you're starting to babble," Hayley warned as their wife started to gesticulate wildly as she talked. "Turn down the text speed or you're going to lose them."

Mariah smiled sheepishly, twisting her hands in her hair again. "Well, I suppose you can guess how I got into Team Galactic," she said bashfully. "Studying raw firmament up close… I didn't care to ask why at first. I just jumped at the chance before it slipped through my fingers."

"When was this?" Key pressed.

"Hmmm… about five… no, five and a half years ago," Mariah said, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully and blanching when Shanks drifted into her field of vision, making faces.

"Wait, Galactic only just got two of the gems in the past couple of weeks," Saylee pointed out. "How could you study them?"

"The gems aren't the _only_ fragments of raw firmament in the world, just the largest and most powerful," Mariah clarified. "Galactic hired me just after acquiring a fragment that's about the size of a grain of rice, originally, though I've never found out where it came from. We spent years learning to manipulate the matter. It was Hayley who finally pushed me to find out _why_."

"Do stop fussing around and just _tell_ us why they want this raw stuff," Star yawned boredly.

"We're getting there," Hayley said, rolling their eyes. "Have some patience and let the lady talk, will you?" Sally batted at Star when she just snarled in response.

"Okay… well, it's said that when Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie leave their lakes, Dialga and Palkia will appear on the peak of Mt Coronet," Mariah explained. "Causing disturbances at the lakes created minor temporal and spatial distortions on the mountain, which I imagine have intensified significantly now. When Dialga and Palkia appear, Cyrus intends to bind them with chains made from the red gems."

"My lady, how did they know that?" Terra whispered to Caelin, looking stricken. "It is forbidden to share that knowledge with humans!"

"Whoever told them has betrayed us all," Caelin growled, "and must be made to _pay_ for it!"

"Who told you?!" Prince demanded, stepping up to Mariah and Hayley with a thunderous expression. "Who told Galactic of how to bring Dialga and Palkia to our realm?! That is a great secret to be known only to noble households!"

"Wait a minute… you knew all this stuff about Dialga and Palkia and the lake spirits?" Archie asked, rounding on Prince.

"Not in the terms which they use," Caelin said, glaring at the couple. "But our clan has long guarded the temple on Mt Coronet where Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie are to bring Dialga and Palkia to this realm. But they are not to be chained!" she snapped angrily. "Your Cyrus will bring about ruin if he attempts it!"

"But that's what he wants," Hayley said grimly. "I don't get all the science involved either—I was the head of security, not a scientist—but the upshot is that, with the Red Chain completed and duplicated in Galactic's labs, Cyrus can control Dialga and Palkia, erase the world and rebuild it how he wants. He hired me when I was an angry kid who was all for that. I swear he scouted most of his top admins at psychiatric facilities—I mean, I met him just after an appointment where I attacked my therapist with a chair. We—they—are all people who would rather that nobody feels anything at all if that's what it takes to stop feeling the way they do."

"That sounds…" Zoe muttered, looking down sadly, "…painful."

"I don't really care about his reasons or excuses, only what he's planning to do and how to stop it," Saylee said firmly. "So we have to stop them getting the last gem, right? Without it, nothing else can go forwards."

"Not necessarily," Mariah said, biting her lip. "One of the techniques that I helped develop was duplicating the matter drawn from the gems… so a second chain could be made after the first is completed, you see. It wouldn't be impossible to complete the first chain artificially, but it would make it incredibly risky to use."

"Cyrus would do it," Hayley said, shaking their head. "He doesn't give a damn anyway, and Pluto has a lot of influence over him. Pluto'd want to do it just to see what happens."

"Who's Pluto?" Key asked with a frown. "Another admin?"

"The most senior admin," Hayley explained. "He developed the computer programs that I maintained… mainly Porygon-Z. I think it was originally meant to just be a hacked-up version of Porygon-2…"

"We asked for it to be created for use in the labs," Mariah put in. "For some reason, most Pokemon can't even touch the firmament, but Porygon-2 can touch and manipulate it. Problem is, it takes so much power we'd need thirty of them and twelve hours just to make a small adjustment. Porygon-Z allowed us to work much faster, but it was…" She fidgeted with her hair again. "Well… they could be unstable."

"If Porygon's a sentient program, Porygon-Z's a sentient virus," Hayley continued. "We used 'em to get building plans, infiltrate security systems, 'acquire new funding'… oh, and we implemented a new one a year ago that probably hit you guys. A fake bug in the Pokémon transporter system. I hear Bebe's been trying to chase it down for months, but it still does its job, keeping trainers with powerful Pokémon from moving them abroad."

"That was _you_?!" Saylee yelled, temper flaring. "Do you know how many Pokémon I trained in Hoenn that _died_ because of that damn bug?!"

Hayley blanched. "Sorry," they muttered.

"Hayley only maintained the programs," Mariah said defensively, squeezing her partner's hand. "Pluto designed it."

"I'm not gonna say I was just following orders," Hayley admitted. "Or that I never meant to hurt anybody. I did. I didn't give a damn. And that's on me, not Pluto. I'm sorry for that."

"That doesn't count for nothing," Blue said, giving Archie a nudge. "And neither does the wealth of information that you're throwing at us right now. So where are they making these chains?"

"The base in Veilstone City," Mariah explained. "That's where the main labs are."

"We need to go destroy them," Archie said immediately. "We know where they are and what they're planning—"

"We need to find Barry first," Saylee interjected. "As soon as we can move. In the meantime," she said, turning back to Hayley and Mariah, "tell us everything you can about the Veilstone Base."

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 8:45 pm_ }

{ _Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

"I know you get to rest up in a pokéball, but it doesn't feel the same as real sleep," Zoe sighed contentedly, hanging off of one of the horizontal bars on the wall, clutching her plushie and peering down at Sally and Star, who were curling up to sleep below her. Everyone was stretching out in the training hall to enjoy a night of real sleep. Not far away, Basil was humming happily as Ferne groomed his ears and chatted about Surfing techniques with Sam and Maya. Eira was already fast asleep, as she had been any time during the day that she wasn't actively training, but Gareth had apparently decided that she was a calming influence and was meditating next to her with Adam and Rashad. The calming influence apparently didn't extend to Caelin, Prince and Terra, though whatever they were arguing about, they were at least doing it under their breath. Girish was intently continuing to train with Raiden, who didn't need to sleep, but Shanks had declined to join them, probably preferring to keep an invisible eye on Hayley and Mariah. Somehow even noiser than them were Ephraim, Warin and Pegasus as they competed over their elaborate evening grooming rituals. The only Pokémon not sleeping in the training hall was Tashigi, who had twenty years of catching up to do with Archie.

"Eh, I don't think anybody except that lazy ass Eira is gonna sleep very well," Gary said, stretching out with a roarlike yawn near to Sally and Star.

"The Princess doesn't look like she's going to," Sally said, nodding over to where Caelin was taking out her frustrations by berating Prince while Terra fretted nearby, unsure whose side to take. "She doesn't trust that couple."

"Why should she?" Star snorted. "Even if the power of love or some shit has changed their minds, they still joined Galactic. They're untrustworthy."

"At best, they make bad decisions," Gary said with a shrug, closing his eyes. "Lots of people do that. If they're telling the truth about leaving Galactic, they deserve a chance to at least try to make things right. If they're lying, we can kick their asses. I'm not worried. Your Princess needs to turn it down a little. Being so damn agitated all the time isn't good for her. She's even edgier than Saylee, and that's saying something."

"Sar and the Princess both have a lot of responsibility on their plates," Sally insisted. "The Princess is going to be Fire Lord of Mt Coronet, after all. And she has to take retribution on Galactic, so that when she's Fire Lord, everyone will know the consequences of hurting her people."

"That make you feel safe, does it?" Gary asked, cracking one eye open to peer at the Luxray. "Following someone like that?"

"Hey, I know the Princess doesn't always manage to protect her own like she wants to," Zoe said, unfurling her left wings and loudly clacking the prosthetic joints, "but she's getting stronger all the time so that she can, and—"

"Nobody can protect everybody all the time," Gary interjected. "You can try your damndest, but hey, shit happens. I mean how she reacts to her failures."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sally snapped.

"Sal, hon, I can't believe that _I'm_ saying this to _you_ , but cool it," Star said, nipping her sister's ear. "You get real defensive about your Princess, you know that?"

"I promised to fight for her," Sally said stubbornly. "And to avenge Leo's death. He was my best friend."

"See, this is what I'm talking about," Gary said, closing his eyes again. "She gets _angry_ about her failures, and so do you. And that's normal, and it's not bad if you know how to use that anger, but you guys _don't_. You don't control it, it controls you. Trust me, this was exactly what Blue was like when I first met him. Dude used to be the _king_ of angry dumb decisions." He gave a deep, growling chuckle and cracked an eye open again. "Nothing wrong with making angry, dumb decisions… so long as you can make 'em up later. Killing somebody is something you can't make up. Galactic's gonna have to face that and deal with it, but you still have the option not to have to."

"What about you?" Zoe asked. "Have you ever killed anybody?"

"I've killed to eat," Gary said with a shrug. "Way of life in Kanto. That's something I can make my peace with. And I killed a couple of Team Rocket members in a fight once, when I was a pup and I was angry about a buddy of mine getting killed by them. They deserved it, but I still don't always feel okay about it. Adam killed somebody who didn't deserve it, and that's something him and Blue still deal with. I'm just saying, friendly word of advice: being angry hurts. Being angry at yourself hurts a hell of a lot more."

"Are you always this preachy?" Sally grumbled. "You sound like Sar."

"Hey, she's my trainer's mate. Guess she rubs off after a while," Gary said with a grin. "Humans tend to do that."

{ _Darnua 19_ _th_ _, 9:15 pm_ }

{ _Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

"Is she asleep?" Saylee yawned, cracking an eye open and peering at Key. The blonde had fallen asleep on the opposite couch, slowly sliding from a sitting position to being half-curled on the cushions, making Archie nervously edge away in case she fell over on his legs. After dinner, the Trents had retreated to their room while Saylee, Blue, Key and Archie had elected to sit up with tea and coffee to compare notes on their Galactic encounters. However, the exhaustion of recent days was still wearing on them.

"Uh, yeah," the Aqua Leader said, glancing at Key, then back at Saylee. "You look pretty worn out yourself."

"I am, but we need to talk," Saylee said, stretching and sitting up. "At least, I have something to ask you. Key told me that you saved her when she was marooned, but that had to have delayed you from reaching Kyogre. So why'd you go out of your way like that?"

"Well… she sounded so scared and alone, I felt like a jackass just leaving her there," Archie said uncomfortably. "Plus, I needed her to tell me what happened to Shelly. I shouldn't have let her come with me. She shouldn't have gotten mixed up in all my shit. She's just a—"

"I wouldn't finish that thought if I were you," Saylee said warningly. "She's seventeen. That's plenty old enough to get mixed up in the shit of her choosing, yours or mine."

"I thought you'd both kicked this guy's ass a few times by then?" Blue asked, pouring himself more coffee. "So you still went and rescued her because you thought she was a helpless kid?"

"No!" Archie said quickly. "I didn't get into as much shit as your guys probably did, but I was also only seventeen when I picked up Aqua where my dad left it. Even got into an argument over that with Juan."

"I have to admit, I kept catching myself thinking that she was too young to get mixed up in all this mess," Saylee said, "but that's hypocritical, given that I'd already taken down the same criminal organization _twice_ by the time I was her age."

"…You scare me," Archie said frankly. "Even so… I would've done the same if it had been _you_ sobbing your eyes out at the other end of the comm… not that I can actually envision _you_ doing that… or somebody I didn't know. I'll have you know that I'm not the kind of asshole who just abandons someone who needs my help."

"Even though it delayed you reaching Kyogre?" Saylee pressed.

"She'd been in that cave for four thousand years, I figured she wasn't going anywhere," Archie said with a shrug.

"Pretty much confirms my assessment as 'not evil, just dumb'," Blue interjected.

"You thought so too?" Saylee said, glancing at her boyfriend. "Temper's dangerous, though. A bit obsessive. Would not recommend for godly powers at this time."

"Wait, what?" Archie said, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean…?"

"I had to explain the thing to him a little bit after the whole thing with you and Morty," Blue sighed, scratching his head. "And we had an encounter with a weird dude who basically spilled the beans that 'Sebastian' here is an avatar. I think he needs to know, if only to know how important it is that he stays out of Galactic's hands."

"Knowing he's an avatar is enough," Saylee grumbled, folding her arms. "He doesn't need to know _who_ …"

"After what happened with the Orbs in Sootopolis," Archie said quietly, "I think I can take a damn good guess."

Saylee sighed, nodding and leaning back against the couch. "One day, Kyogre's going to possess you and you're going to have her powers and memories, theoretically to use them to the advantage of humans and Pokémon both," she explained. "But it's sure as hell not going to be any time soon. I don't trust you with Kyogre's powers."

Archie frowned. "And don't I get any say in this?" he demanded. "Why are you the one who gets to decide if an when I get Kyogre's powers?"

"Because she's got a damn good track record for looking after avatars, and that kinda seems to make her an authority," Blue put in. "At least, according to the creepy people who claim to be ancient authorities on this kinda thing. Though I guess you could always just die, then somebody else would get the job of being a mighty and powerful god. Oh, hey, speaking of, have you seen Silver? Kid's rocking his leader job, no pun intended."

"Yeah, he seems to really be enjoying it," Saylee said proudly. "It's made him mellow out into a more graceful loser, too."

"So we saw when Archie got a Coal Badge off him," Blue laughed.

"Wait, you _saw_ Silver? In person?!" Saylee gasped. "That little—he never told me!"

"Well, _I_ didn't see him, you know how he doesn't like me," Blue said, rolling his eyes.

"Coal badge… are we talking about Roark?" Archie said, confused.

"He asks people he likes to call him Silver," Saylee said. "He's my little brother. Well, half-brother. Might as well tell you that he's also the firebird god, Ho-oh. Second avatar I helped to ascend, not that I really wanted to… I'd rather have waited until he was older than ten, but Ho-oh forced my hand. You, on the other hand, I can control the ascension of, because you need the Blue Orb—which I've hidden—and Wally's keeping Groudon and Kyogre sedate, so there's no rush."

"He's pretty contrite about the crimes he's committed, which isn't a bad start," Blue pointed out, "although he's got a _lot_ of reparations to make."

"Ah, yes…" Archie said uncomfortably. "I need to apologize to you for the deaths of your Wingull and your Dustox. I didn't order their deaths or want them to happen, but that's no excuse. Their murders were committed by my agents, and as their leader I am responsible for their actions." He bowed his head. "An apology isn't enough, but still, I am so, so sorry."

"Hey, so you can do responsibility after all," Saylee said, clapping only a little sarcastically. "By the way, you and Marc robbing Mt Pyre—as if robbing a graveyard wasn't classy enough—stirred up the spirits there, which led to my Mightyena's death, too. Her name was Polly. Her mate was Key's Mightyena, Python."

Archie looked down at Key, looking sick. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I'll have to apologize to Python sometime, too."

"Yes, you will," Saylee said sternly. "You're not unsalvageable. That's what Key thinks, and I agree with her. But you have a hell of a lot of work to do. You're going to have to learn to control your temper, because when tsunamis brew every time you're in a bad mood, you really can't afford to hold onto anger. You're especially going to have to let go of your hatred for Marc."

"You want me to make _friends_ with that filthy—" Archie snarled.

"Exhibit A, Archie proving exactly why he's not ready for godhood," Blue interrupted, waving his hand with a flourish. Archie scowled.

"Kyogre and Groudon have thousands upon thousands of years of hatred between them," Saylee explained. "It'll exacerbate your own hate unless you learn to _let it go._ If you can't and you're possessed by Kyogre, my guess is you'll be consumed by hate and fight until you die. Which, aside from the massive casualties that would result, would really upset your brother… he's worried about you, you know. And it'd probably upset Key if you made her that badly wrong." Key had shifted a little in her sleep, but didn't seem to be waking up for anything short of a close-vicinity explosion. Archie stared down at her with a very lost expression on his face.

"Okay, c'mon, you're gonna have to explain those lost looks," Blue said, leaning forwards with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped in front of him. "C'mooooon. Promise we won't kill you for whatever you say."

"I promise nothing," Saylee said firmly, pouring herself some more tea.

"Honestly? After Mt Chimney, I couldn't get her out of my head," Archie sighed, leaning back and rubbing his forehead. "Not in that way. Stop with the eyebrows, Blue, I don't mean in a romantic way. At first, it was just the nagging suspicion that she was familiar. Took me ages to remember why…"

"Key said she remembered meeting you when she was very little," Saylee put in.

Archie nodded. "Yeah, when I figured that out, I didn't expect to think anymore about it," he said. "It was a long time ago, and she really was a kid at the time, so it's not surprising that she didn't remember me. I'm certainly a completely different person than I was then. But… every time my mind drifted I found myself thinking about how hard she was trying to make me see that I was wrong. I know you were, too, but I guess I found it easier to write you off because you were foreign, you couldn't know anything about Aqua and Magma, and I just plain didn't know you. Whereas she was somebody who'd met me, even if she didn't remember it, the daughter of a Gym Leader who just had to know right from wrong, and her absolute conviction just… shook me. It was like she was talking to a me that I hadn't been for a long time, and hadn't even realized that I hadn't been for a long time. Maybe I've just spent too much time with people who agree with me on everything. I hadn't had cause to question what I was doing for a long time."

"And you really, _really_ needed to question what the hell you thought you were doing," Saylee agreed.

"Yeah," Archie sighed, "I did. But that's all there is to it," he added. "I just… I wish I was as good at doing the right thing when I was seventeen as she is."

"I'm sure a lot of people wish exactly the same thing," Saylee said flatly. "She seems to have faith that you're trainable, though. I hope for your sake that you are, because aside from wanting to keep you from doing any more damage to the world… if you hurt or disappoint her, I will see to it that you spend the rest of your life on fire."

"Don't worry, it won't last long," Blue added, smirking.

"…Noted," Archie said with a gulp. The clock on the mantelpiece chimed midnight. "I'm... gonna go hit the hay." He carefully stood up, taking care to edge out of the room without ever being in Saylee's reach. "Goodnight…"

"Night," Saylee said, getting up and stretching. "Blue, wanna give me a hand getting Key into her bed? She really does sleep like a Snorlax."

"Sure," Blue said, pulling one of Key's arms over his shoulder. Saylee got the other, and together they carried Key down the hall.

{}

{}

 _I am incredibly sorry about this last week-between working a lot of extra shifts and a trip to Manchester for a job interview (unsuccessful, but they gave great feedback and the sole issue they had is easy for me to work on in future, so I'm not too broken up), writing and editing has just slipped my mind entirely _ Chapter 37 WILL be up tomorrow, though, I promise._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	38. Chapter 37

_Saylee—Pokémon: 21 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 2_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:14 am}_

 _{Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

"If _you_ are here to lecture us as well, you can consider my lack of interest a given," Caelin growled at Adam as he strolled over to her, stroking his nearly floor-length moustache contemplatively. "Your compatriots Sam and Gary have already made their pitches against brutal revenge. We will not be convinced to renege on our vows. Galactic will pay in _blood_."

"You know, for how fragile they are, humans can lose quite a lot of blood without dying," Adam commented mildly.

"Spare us your jests," Caelin grumbled, turning back to trading punches and kicks with Gareth.

"That's your idea of a joke?" Adam said, shaking his head. "Never mind. I won't preach. I just have one question. Have you ever actually killed somebody before?"

Caelin resolutely ignored him, but Adam heard Gareth's thoughts loud and clear, the psychic answering without his Princess' knowledge. " _No. None of us have. Neither in battle, nor for sustenance, as Sar Kanto has spoken of doing in her youth. In ancient times, when Sinnoh was barren, humans and Pokémon hunted each other for meat, but those times are legends now. Sinnoh is bountiful with wild berries, and humans come by their own food from their machines just fine. We have battled Galactic often, but we have never killed_."

Adam nodded, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. "This is only my opinion, but speaking as someone who has killed in battle," he said carefully, watching Caelin slow down in response to hearing that statement, "if you haven't killed yet, keep it that way. No matter the reasons. I convinced myself that it was a necessary evil, but I was wrong, and I only feel more wrong as time goes on. No matter what your reasons or justifications, you will not feel justified forever. And once the regret hits, you cannot undo what you regret."

"We will not feel regret for taking their lives," Caelin snapped, giving up the pretence of not listening.

"The only ones who can honestly say that are those who don't feel at all," Adam said, bowing out to go spar with Girish. He, Sam and Gary had a rota for joining the Gabite's aggressive training regimen, as nobody else was strong enough to keep up with it.

" _The Princess is stubborn, and will refuse to acknowledge that that conversation happened,_ " Gareth told him, " _but she heard you_."

" _That's all I was intending,_ " Adam replied. " _By the way, she keeps leading with her left. Start attacking more heavily to her right. It'll give her a more even workout._ "

" _I don't want to actually hit her,_ " Gareth thought tentatively. " _I mean, she's the Princess_."

" _I'm sure you can trust yourself not to really hurt her,_ " Adam encouraged him.

" _Could really piss her off, though_."

" _So you're afraid of her_?" Adam asked, before unfocusing from Gareth's mind and switching to giving Sam a psychic heads-up that he was ready to tag in against Girish.

" _You sound proud of yourself,_ " Sam thought. " _Have you been messing with somebody again_?"

" _In a constructive way,_ " Adam promised, completely sincerely. Sam didn't feel like she believed him, but she seldom did.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:14 am_ }

{ _Snowpoint Lodge, Route 216}_

It took Mariah Trent a while to tone down her explanations to a layman's level, but once she did, the details and implications of what the Red Chain could do were horrifying. In short, it could rewrite the world.

"So how do we break the damn things?" Blue asked, keeping one eye on Eira to make sure she didn't slip out of her training and go for a nap, and the other on Mariah and Hayley, still not entirely trusting the two former Galactic members.

"The thing is, I don't think you can," Mariah said, folding her arms. "The matter is… well, the way it's formed, it would take an almost unimaginable amount of power to actually _break_ it. We can stretch and extend and mould it, but not break it. The kind of power that you'd need to break it would probably be, in brief, the kind of power you'd need to make it."

"Meaning a god-Pokémon," Hayley clarified.

"Well, then Dialga and Palkia could just break out of the chains, couldn't they?" Archie pointed out.

Mariah sighed heavily, shaking her head. "They probably… I mean, this is only theory, but…"

Hayley squeezed her shoulder. "Interacting with gods isn't something that's on a lot of scientific records," they said, "so there's a lot of guesswork, but Jupiter recently came into possession of some theoretical research that suggests that nobody except Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie and Arceus itself could break what gets made from the Red Gems."

"When you say you 'came into possession' of this research," Blue pressed, "do you mean she picked up a journal at the local library? Or she raided a lab and brutally murdered the only researcher working there overnight?"

"I don't know the specifics, but yeah, that sounds like the kind of thing that Jupiter would do," Hayley said with a scowl. "The username credentials on the files were to Professor Melody Hawkshaw."

"We need to get those files," Saylee said immediately. "We need to prove that they were in Galactic's possession. Professor Hawkshaw was very circumspect about her research, and she worked at that laboratory overnight a lot because it was the only place that most of her research materials were kept. I visited a few times with questions about the Unown and their relationships to the gods, and she was there at all hours, but she only ever let me have access to the public records."

"You're a Knight of something or other, though, right?" Archie asked. "Can't you just invoke that and order her to show you her research?"

"I _could_ , if I wanted to be a bitch about it," Saylee said with a frown. "There was never a pressing need to forcibly take her research, and she was a good, friendly person who didn't deserve to be strongarmed like that. Besides, I've never had reason to believe that she knew anything about god-Pokémon that I couldn't get more easily from… closer sources."

"Well, she was working on what she called Trinity Theory," Mariah explained. "The idea that god-Pokémon are linked in trios, usually with a 'Master' attached, isn't exactly a new idea, but she was connecting it to some recently restored rooms in some ruins in Johto and expanding some theories about how the powers of trinities interact with each other and other trinities."

"I've heard about that much," Saylee agreed. "That's why there are four chambers in the Ruins of Alph. Pretty much every major god can be fit into the pattern."

"It's not just a pattern, Professor Hawkshaw theorizes, but a complex interweaving of natural forces," Mariah said, rubbing her temples. "But of course, this is all theoretical, almost impossible to scientifically verify. But we'll find out the moment that Cyrus puts those chains around Dialga and Palkia's necks. Neither of them are part of or master of the Lake Trio; they're part of another trio with Giratina. As such, their powers can't interfere with the Lake Trio's."

"But then the Lake Trio's can't interfere with Dialga and Palkia, right?" Key pointed out. "The chains couldn't control them, right?"

"Not fully control them, but they're enough to physically restrain them," Mariah explained. "And nothing except the Lake Trio would be able to break the chains and release them, but they can't without the Red Gems. It's all theoretical, but if the theory holds, the second he gets those chains around the gods, it's all over."

"But if we rescue Barry and Azelf first, then we'll have a weapon that we can use on the Chain," Blue mused.

"Barry's a kid and I'm not dragging him into a battle," Saylee objected.

"He's fifteen," Blue shot back. "Remind me how old you were when we attacked Saffron City?"

"Look, I'm responsible for him, and I can't let him get hurt like Dawn and Lucas did!" Saylee snapped, irritated by the precision strike that Blue had just executed. "If we can stop them from even leaving their labs with the Chain—"

There was a distant ringing noise. "I'll get that," Hayley said, heading for the door.

Saylee glanced at Key, who nodded. "We'll come with you," Key said, grabbing Archie's arm and dragging him along with her.

"I can't even take a phone call unsupervised?" Hayley grumbled, allowing the pair to follow them to the kitchen to get the landline phone.

"Thank you for hearing us out and not just tying us up and waiting for the police to arrive," Mariah sighed gratefully.

"If your information turns up bad or you betray us, we'll find you later," Blue assured her. "My Arcanine's got a damn good nose. And the jaw strength to break rocks."

Mariah glanced nervously at Gary, who had entered into a staring contest with Shanks, apparently unaware that the ghost had no physical need to blink. "We've got as much to fear as anyone from Galactic," she said quietly. "Possibly more, given that the other admins have reason to hate us personally. They're all fanatically devoted to Cyrus… no, perhaps it's more accurate to say that they're fanatically devoted to Galactic's cause, whatever they perceive it to be. Cyrus can be… charismatic. Like the only person who understands you. He's good at seeming to be whatever you need to see to get on his side." Saylee nodded slightly, thinking of how he'd spoken to her in Celestic, once he'd known who she was, dangling the prospect of fixing all that had ever been wrong with Kanto in front of her. "The only person whose reasons I know for sure are Hayley's, but they others… they have a lot of hate, I know that much. Enough to take to the idea of rewriting reality, whatever the cost."

"They wanna cheat-code the damn universe," Blue grumbled. "Little kids play 'If I was the emperor of the universe, free ice cream for all'. A grown-ass adult being willing to kill for that shit is… I dunno if it's pathetic or scary."

"A little bit of both," Mariah sighed. "And Cyrus is no therapist. Convincing people that we're broken and we can't be fixed makes it easier to convince people that destroying everything and starting from scratch is a good idea."

Saylee and Blue exchanged a look. "What gives him the right to be judge, jury and executioner of the universe?" Saylee asked.

"He figures everyone will thank him later," Mariah said with a shrug. "The important thing is that the people who are still loyal to him aren't just _loyal_ , they're slavishly devoted. It's not just the admins—some of the foot soldiers have been working for Galactic for years, and some of them would _die_ for Galactic's cause or Cyrus himself. He's built up a bit of a cult around himself. Some of the scientists are like I was, blindly focused on our own passions to the exclusion of caring about how they were being funded, and most of them'll bail as fast as I did once that funding dries up, but the rest… just be prepared, you know?"

"Hey, that was Snowpoint City," Hayley said, walking back into the room. "The weather's settled down and your guide is on her way down to meet you. She should be here in about an hour, but it'll take you about four hours to get back up to the city, so we'll get you stocked up and prepped to go, and I think I speak for us all when I say that I hope none of us have to see each other again."

"But because everything goes well, not because the world as we know it ceases to exist," Mariah clarified.

"I can't promise I won't call if I need more information," Saylee warned. "But thanks for what you've given us thus far. If it helps us stop Galactic, it should be enough to get you a good plea bargain against doing any real time yourselves."

"Oh, _thank_ you for your generosity," Hayley said sarcastically. Mariah dragged them away.

"So is that it?" Star asked, loping up to them. "Are we finally leaving? Am I done being cooped up in this little building with so many _females_?" She growled automatically at Saylee and Key, who were now ignoring such displays.

"Are we back on the hunt?" Sally asked excitedly, following her sister. " _Finally_. Who knows what Galactic's been up to while we've been stuck here?"

"Hopefully not gutting Barry," Key muttered glumly.

"The kid's up in Snowpoint, right?" Archie pointed out. "That city's just as snow-stranded as this cabin. There's no _way_ that Galactic got there first."

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:19 am_ }

{ _Route 216}_

Their guide transpired to be a Glaceon named Elsa, forcing Star to tussle between her hatred of being cooped up in the cabin and her hatred of allowing another female to tell her what to do and where to go.

"We really have to _go_ ," Saylee grumbled, stomping her feet as she, Key and Blue stood out in the snow, watching Archie argue with his recalcitrant Luxray. "This can't wait!"

"Absolutely right," Elsa said, starting to run back up the mountain and looking back down at them. "The weather up here could change any time! Another cold front is on its way up the mountain and we _must_ be in Snowpoint by then!"

" _She_ doesn't get to tell me what to do," Star growled.

"Then stay here with us," Mariah offered, smiling at Star.

" _What_ ," Hayley hissed, glaring at their wife.

"I am _not_ staying here with _them_ ," Star argued angrily, ignoring Mariah's proffered hand and Hayley's frantic head-shaking.

"See?" Mariah whispered to her spouse, patting their arm.

"Then come on, Star," Blue sighed in exasperation. "Archie, threaten to pokéball her if she won't hurry up."

"No!" Star yelped.

"Then _please_ come on, Star," Archie said heavily. "What will it be?" When Star just growled at Elsa, Archie sighed and pulled her pokéball out of his pocket. "Please, Star…"

"Fine!" Star snarled, pushing past her trainer. "C'mon, then. You get us to Snowpoint as fast as possible, got it?"

"Yes ma'am," Elsa yelped, hurrying up the mountain again. "Watch out for the deep snow! Follow my footsteps as closely as possible!"

"I think we need Gary, Caelin and Pegasus to clear out some snow ahead of us," Blue suggested, holding up his Arcanine's pokéball. "What do you say?"

"For the sake of peace among Pokémon, I think Caelin can stay in her pokéball for a while," Saylee said, glancing at the simmering Star.

"Thanks," Archie muttered, releasing Pegasus. "Pegasus, can you use Flamethrower to clear away the snow that Elsa here directs you to?"

"Same marching orders, Gary," Blue said, releasing his huge Arcanine.

"Much obliged, gentlemen," Elsa said, glancing over her shoulder with a smile. "If you could clear the ground _behind_ where I walk and please not burn me, that'd be best for your humans, I think…"

Saylee looked back at the couple standing outside of the lodge. They'd filled in a lot of information on Galactic's inner workings, including detailed information on the Veilstone City base, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't be doing a little research as soon as she had time and signal to find out their real names and where they would likely bolt to if their information turned out bad or if, like she suspected, the lodge's real owners reappeared. _At least they'll come back to find the place clean and all their ski equipment repaired..._

"Mrz and Mrs Trent said this would take about four hours, right?" Key said as they started walking, keeping as close to the radiating body heat of Gary and Pegasus as they could. "That's a long time to be mad, Star."

"I'll be mad as long as I want," Star snapped, not looking back at Key.

"Sorry about her," Archie sighed for the millionth time. "I know she can be difficult…"

"Have you seen Caelin?" Saylee sighed, rolling her eyes. "Star doesn't worry me." She narrowed her eyes on Archie. "But rest assured, I'll be keeping a good eye on _you_."

"You don't really have to watch him that closely," Blue suggested. "He's pretty dumb."

"Oh, we knew _that_ ," Key assured him, ignoring Star's growl.

"Your support is always appreciated," Archie muttered.

{}

{}

 _What is this dark magic? I got a chapter out on time? Sorta. This one's unbetad, so hopefully it's not completely riddled with mistakes __

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	39. Chapter 38

_Saylee—Pokémon: 16 Deaths: 13_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:59 am}_

 _{Route 217}_

"I know you two wanna be alone," Blue said, jogging back down the path to where Archie and Star had drifted a good distance behind the rest of the group, "but you kinda need watched. Don't worry, pretend I'm not here."

"I'd rather pretend _they're_ not here," Star muttered.

"I know, Star, but they are, and we all need to deal with it," Archie sighed. "I'm sorry for threatening to put you in your pokéball."

"You should be," Star snapped. "I don't see why we have to go along with what _those two_ want."

"Because I don't want to get in another fight with them," Archie muttered. "They trounced me the last time we did. Besides, what Galactic's planning is bad news for everybody, and maybe if I help them stop it, I _don't_ go to jail forever and never see you or any of my other Pokémon ever again."

"If they lock you up, I'll break you out!" Star snapped. "You're _my_ trainer!"

"Star, word to the wise: if you tried to break this guy out of jail, the guards would catch you and they'd put you in a pokéball," Blue explained, making Star flinch. "Even if they knew about your allergy, they'd consider keeping you from breaching the prison to be more important. He'll go to a top-security place, and they are pretty damn serious about keeping the prisoners where they're put, got it? You've gotta pick your battles, Star."

"That's all I'm doing, I promise," Archie said, stroking Star's ears. "It's not that they matter more to me than you. I mean, I… even if she doesn't remember me, Key's kind of important to me, but… well, that was a long time ago. I haven't spent as much time around her as I have around you, and there's a pretty good chance that sooner or later she'll come to her senses and kick my ass again. And Saylee just kinda scares me—don't tell her I said that," he said quickly to Blue.

"Why not? She'll love it," Blue replied mildly.

"They just both have the power to make my life really, really difficult," Archie continued to his Luxray. "So sometimes I have to put doing what they want first. I just don't want to be separated from you and the others and locked up forever, okay? That's all it is." Star nodded, but kept glaring up the path at Saylee and Key. "And, y'know, the more the merrier when it comes to fighting Galactic and avenging Shanks and Pete and your sister's eye."

"She wouldn't have lost it if they hadn't gotten her involved," Star muttered. "Or Leo. If that stuck-up princess hadn't…"

"If your sister's anything like you, I think it'd be damn hard to _make_ her do anything she doesn't want to do," Blue interjected. "It might be more convenient to blame Saylee, Key and Caelin just because they're here, but we all know damn well whose fault this mess really is. So stop blaming the people _fighting_ Galactic for Galactic's actions, okay?"

Star finally looked back, then nuzzled Archie. " _You_ might still like me more than you like them, but _he_ likes them better," she complained.

"Sorry, Star," Blue said, scratching Star's ears. "First come, first served."

"What are you, a canteen bucket of soup?" Archie muttered, making Star snigger.

"Smooth, delicious and totally hot? Yes," Blue shot back with a smug grin, making Star laugh harder. Archie rolled his eyes, but grinned at Star finally getting a little more spring in her step.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 4:35 pm_ }

{ _Lake Acuity}_

"What's up there?" Saylee asked, pointing up the slope. Elsa was leading them along a path that seemed to go around the peak instead of up it, and if Mrs Trent's time estimate was right, they were nearly at Snowpoint City.

"That's Lake Acuity," Elsa said, glancing uphill. "It's popular for tourists. Would you like to visit?"

"Y-yeah," Saylee said, reaching into her pocket for her pokéballs.

"What's up?" Blue muttered as they hurried after Elsa.

"That's probably where the third lake spirit lives," Saylee replied, rubbing her forehead. "That's where Barry would go…"

"Are you having a weird feeling again?" Key asked.

"Maybe," Saylee said, releasing Caelin and Sally, prompting Star to start snarling until her sister nuzzled her. "Be on guard, ladies, in case Galactic's in the area."

"Is there some sign of those foul beasts?" Caelin asked with a snarl.

"Maybe," Saylee repeated. "Elsa, how long until we get to the lake?"

"It'll take about an hour to get around the path on the other side," Elsa said, glancing over her shoulder, "but if you need to get there faster, we can always take a short cut…" She turned and darted up the sheer, frozen cliff face.

"How the hell is she doing that?!" Blue said, gaping.

"She's an ice-type. I guess she's good at climbing in the snow," Saylee said, reaching out to touch the slick ice covering the rock face. "Don't think I could do that without equipment."

"We can," Caelin said, crouching down and holding out her arms. "Sar, if you will consent to ride on our back, we shall assist you in the ascent."

"I can carry her, m'lady," Sally insisted, crouching next to the princess.

"It is fine," Caelin responded. "We intend to carry all our tribe. We can most certainly carry a friend. Besides, someone must carry Sar's mate, must they not?" Saylee giggled and wrapped her arms around Caelin's shoulders, hooking her legs around the Infernape's hips so she didn't fall off when Caelin stood up.

"Fair point," Blue said, looking at Sally. "Gary's not much of a climber, and Girish isn't big enough to carry me. Mind giving me a lift, One-Eye?" Sally crouched to allow him to climb onto her back. Archie climbed onto Star's back.

"Gareth, can you make it up?" Key asked, releasing her Gallade. He immediately scooped up his trainer and began running up the slope with Sally, Star and Caelin in tow.

Elsa was waiting partway up the slope for them. "Hurry!" she called. "I smell humans ahead!"

"It's got to be Barry and Riley!" Key shouted.

 _Please let it only be Barry and Riley,_ Saylee prayed.

Sally suddenly let out a feral roar and sped up. "I know that stench!" she snarled. "Jupiter!"

"Oh, no," Saylee moaned, clinging to Caelin's back, feeling the Infernape tense and her core temperature rise sharply. The Princess' headflame flared, going blue at the edges, radiating rage as intense as the heat. _Please let us have gotten here in time…_ Saylee begged any god who was listening. _Just this time, just this_ once…

"I smell blood," Sally growled.

"I smell it too!" Elsa called, leaping onto somewhat more horizontal ground, only lightly covered in snow due to the dense collection of tall, grey-green pines. "This way!" Elsa called, tearing off in the gaps between the trees.

Caelin and Gareth followed her closely, still carrying their trainers, while the somewhat larger Sally and Star were occasionally forced to go around to larger spaces. They fell behind briefly, but then Star shot forwards, overtaking everyone. "I smell _her_ ," she growled.

They suddenly burst out of the trees and into blinding light. When their eyes cleared from the glare of the sunlight off the snow, they spotted Barry's Empoleon floating in a patch of cloudy red water in the lake, clearly victim to the wicked Night Slash of Jupiter's Skuntank. More patches of blood stained the heavily churned snow pink or, in one case, an odd greenish colour. Barry was unconscious and holding a pokéball in each hand, probably having returned his Pokémon as they were critically injured, leaving himself defenceless.

Riley was lying nearby, not visibly injured but curled up and moaning in pain. Blue hopped off of Sally's back to check on him.

"We're too late," Saylee groaned, fighting the urge to cry as she ran over to Barry. "Caelin, help me warm him up, he's soaked and freezing…" She lifted the boy up onto her lap and was horrified to see a thin trickle of blood running down his face. She brushed his bloodstained bangs aside to have her fears confirmed by the sight of a bleeding indent in his forehead. "Barry got to Azelf first, for all the good it did him…"

"Sam, can you fetch that poor bastard in the water?" Blue said quietly, releasing his huge Blastoise. She sighed sadly at the bloody water and dove in, ducking under to come up under the Empoleon and balance him on her back.

"He's dead," she said, swimming carefully back to shore. "Poor guy… I thought it was Prince for a second. Thanks for scaring the crap out of me."

"Prince is fine," Archie promised her.

"Jupiter won't be when I get my claws in that bitch… hey, check it out!" Sally stopped to sniff one particular patch of blood. Star joined in and grinned brightly.

"It's Jupiter's blood!" she said with delight. "One of them must've at least injured her!"

"How's Riley?" Archie asked Blue, slipping off of Star's back.

"Not injured," Blue said, sounding nonplussed as he patted the man down for wounds and found none. "Just acting like he's in agony…"

"What if Luke were injured?" Gareth suggested, peering down at the barely-conscious man with a thoughtful expression. "When Roar was killed, Saylee passed out, and she hadn't been training him for a fraction as long as Sir Riley was with Luke…"

"We need to get them to the hospital," Blue said, getting up and going over to Sam to help her slide the dead Empoleon from her back. "Guess we'll need to sort out the proper rites for him, too."

"Gods damn it," Saylee growled, wiping the blood off of Barry's face with her sleeve and then letting Caelin lift the boy into her arms. Unconscious was the first time she'd ever seen Barry look close to still. He looked very, very young. _They're just kids…_

"Damn gods," Blue said darkly.

"Sar, we must send out search parties in case Galactic are still nearby," Caelin demanded. Saylee nodded, releasing Zoe, Shanks and Ferne.

"Zoe, Shanks, get into the air and keep eyes out for Galactic," she ordered. "Ferne, get into that lake. I don't know if they would or could have left that way, but… look out for Galactic, and make sure there aren't any other bodies down there, okay? And _nobody_ goes into a fight alone. If you see anything, come back here to report _immediately._ "

"Well, this sucker ain't still here," Shanks noted, peering at the dead Empoleon. "Ain't anybody else, either, for what it's worth. Doesn't mean they ain't dead, just that they ain't stayed."

"Good to know," Blue muttered, releasing the rest of his team. "Okay guys, we're on guard, so Eira, don't you dare sleep. Odds aren't great that Galactic will come back here, but if one of them does, fill the hospital with 'em, got it?"

"Sure thing," Gary growled, sniffing the air. "That's _disgusting_. All that blood…"

"I hear dark-types like the smell," Adam commented. "Rashad, are you alright?"

"This human… his aura is familiar," Rashad said faintly, kneeling next to Riley. "Who is he?"

"His name's Riley," Blue explained. "He's your dad Luke's trainer. Might be why he's familiar to you." Rashad whined low in his throat and Blue stroked his ears. "Sorry, Rashad. Galactic got to him before we did. For what it's worth..." he pointed at the pokeball in Riley's hands, which was flashing a critical health warning. "...it looks like he's alive, just injured."

"First my brother, now my father…" Rashad muttered. "The next time I see a Galactic member, it will _not_ end well for them…"

"No it will not," Caelin promised darkly. "Ferne, are you not going?"

"S-sure, it's just… the whole thing about there maybe being bodies in the water…" Ferne said, nervously skirting around the edge of the lake.

"Maya'll go with you," Key promised, releasing the rest of her Pokémon. "Maya, you're going under the lake to search for Galactic and make sure there aren't any bodies, okay? Raiden, can you and Tashigi go fly sweeps looking for Galactic? Don't attack them on your own, just see if you can find them."

"'Kay!" Raiden said brightly, zapping away. Tashigi looked sorrowfully at Barry, then turned and flew off.

"M-my lady, wh-wh-what happened?" Terra said, her teeth chattering. Caelin picked up her lady-in-waiting and held the Turtwig close so she could warm up.

"We were not in time," Caelin growled. "Galactic is—Ephraim, if you do not stop sniffing around our poor guide…" She glared at the Leafeon, who had almost immediately trotted over to Elsa, the pair peering curiously at each other.

"Ephraim?" Elsa said in surprise, sniffing him back. "I didn't recognize you! When did _you_ evolve?"

"Elsa! I thought it was you!" Ephraim yapped happily. "I could say the same. A Glaceon, eh? You look simply _stunning_!"

"And you haven't changed a bit," Elsa said, spitting a snowflake at him with a smile. "What on earth is a tail-chaser like you doing with a band of warriors?"

"We're—ye gods, what happened here?" Ephraim asked, only seeming to notice the two unconscious humans and the blood in the snow for the first time.

"Lady Key," Terra sighed, "could someone perhaps bring us all up to speed?"

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 4:55 pm_ }

{ _Lake Acuity}_

The search and rescue team that came to put Barry and Riley in the ambu-copters was led by a pale, black-haired girl who looked to be about Saylee's age and was worryingly underdressed for the weather.

"Oh, everyone says I'm hot-blooded!" the girl said brightly when she caught Saylee staring at her miniskirt. "Besides, if you got it, flaunt it, right?" she added with a wink, before leaning up on tiptoe to peer over their heads. "May!" she cried, waving. "There you are!"

"Oh! Candy! You found 'em!"

"Maylene?" Key said in surprise as the pink-haired girl came jogging through the trees towards them. "What are you doing here?"

"May comes up here to train a lot," Candy said, giving Maylene a high-five as she jogged up to them with her Lucario, not looking the least bit worried about being barefoot in the snow. "And she just beat her record for running up this mountain by four whole seconds! You go, girl!"

"Thanks," Maylene said, grinning or a moment before looking at Saylee and Key more solemnly. "Two of these incidents, and we didn't make it to either in time…"

" _Two_ incidents?" Blue asked. "What happened before this?"

"Some Galactic punks tried to break into the Snowpoint Temple," Candice explained, scowling, "but before either me or the police got to the scene, they got into a fight with some weirdos who said they were from Interpol. At least, one of them said he was working for Interpol, but they're not checking out…"

"Looker?" Key said, looking at Saylee.

"Looker," Saylee agreed.

"Not the name any of them are giving, but most of their names sound way too dumb to be real names anyway," Candice said, rolling her eyes. "If you want to talk to them, I'm sure you're welcome to, being a Senior Ranger and a Champion and, uh…" She glanced at Archie and Blue and shrugged, pausing to stare at Archie when he flinched slightly, raising his hand as if trying to pull a bandana that he was no longer wearing over his face.

"Is Looker not the individual who is investigating Galactic?" Caelin asked.

"So _that's_ what he's here for!" Blue said, slapping Archie on the back. "And here we thought it was this moron."

"Well, him too, a bit," Saylee said. Candice and Maylene stared curiously at Archie. "We, uh, better go talk to him. Thanks!"

"Race you back down the mountain, May?" Candice said. Maylene nodded and the two shot off through the snow. Maylene's Lucario just rolled her eyes at them before dashing off after her trainer.

"I'll just kinda hang back a bit while all of you talk to him," Archie said, a touch nervously. "Police, y'know…"

" _I'll_ look after you, hon," Star said, nuzzling his arm.

"Why don't you stay with him, Gareth?" Key suggested sweetly. " _Just in case._ "

"Of course," Gareth said, folding his arms and glaring at Archie.

"May I come and assist you?" Elsa said, scowling darkly. "Azelf's home has been defiled by whoever attacked those poor people. I would very much like to help you catch them, if that's what you're going to do."

"Hey, the more the merrier, right?" Key said, glancing at Saylee, who nodded.

"If that's what you want, even seeing how dangerous it is, then you're very welcome to join us, Elsa," she said. "Now let's go find Officer Looker. He might know where Jupiter and Galactic have gone, and what they're planning for Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie's powers."

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 5:28 pm_ }

{ _Snowpoint City}_

"Stabbed _how_ many times?" Saylee said, aghast.

Officer Delphine nodded solemnly. "The Galactics are all gonna live," she said, "but you know the way these four took 'em down wasn't exactly Interpol standard operations, so we got a little suspicious and checked them out. We're grateful that the Temple wasn't damaged, of course, but these people are pretty shady." She twirled a pen in her fingers with a sigh. "They show up in Interpol's computers as having gotten pardons and permission to emigrate for classified reasons, but nothing about them getting contracted, and the agent they claim to work for—Agent Looker—isn't even posted to Sinnoh just now."

"Who did you hear that from?" Saylee asked with a frown. "He's here in Sinnoh. We've seen him."

"He was there at Eterna City," Key agreed. "He rescued Di and took her to hospital!"

"That'd be Diane Platt?" Officer Delphine said, glancing back at her computer screen. "She's mentioned here on Mr B's file. Says _he_ brought her into a hospital in Eterna City and gave a statement to the police about finding her outside. You sure this Looker guy's really in Sinnoh?" she asked. "'Cause the Interpol officer I spoke to said he was supposed to be sorting out some business in Kanto."

"Whatever he's _supposed_ to be doing, he's here in Sinnoh," Blue said with a frown, "and I think we'd better talk to these four that you brought in."

"Privately, if you don't mind," Saylee added. "They may have classified information that they're not allowed to reveal to you."

"We'll let you know if they say anything you might need to know," Key put in.

"Well, s'pose I can't say no to a Champion and a knight," Officer Delphine sighed, standing up. "C'mon, then, you can wait for me to bring 'em in to Interview Room Three…"

The Interview Room was a fairly large room with a table in the middle and four chairs around it. There were no windows or anything else apparently set into the cinderblock walls, but Saylee ran her hands along the walls the whole way around the room to make sure that there were no holoscreens concealing viewing windows.

"Hey, Key, can you get Raiden to play in that camera for a bit?" Blue said, pointing to the security camera that was set into the ceiling. "She said they wouldn't watch, but if she isn't a really suspicious bastard then she's a crappy police officer."

Key released Raiden and directed him up to the camera, which he jumped into quite happily. "What do you think she was talking about?" she wondered aloud. "About what happened in Eterna, I mean? That somebody else took Di to hospital?"

"It could've just been Looker using another codename," Saylee said, leaning against the wall with her arms folded, "but remember that he had an accomplice with him that night. He could have sent the accomplice to take her to hospital…"

"…to hide the fact that he's in Sinnoh from Interpol?" Blue suggested. "From the sounds of it, he's not exactly investigating Galactic under Interpol's orders."

Saylee nodded, but didn't get a chance to say anything before the door opened and Officer Delphine, along with several police Machoke, ushered in four people. It was actually the smallest and least oddly dressed who caught Saylee's eye first. "It's you!" she gasped. "The former—" She snapped her mouth shut until Blue had glared Officer Delphine into shutting the door.

"Oh, it's _you_ again," Yuki said with a scowl. "And Blue Oak too. What a sweet pair of life-ruiners."

"Yuki, dahling, it all worked out for the best, didn't it?" crooned the tallest of the four—the absurdly tall man with the absurdly large, lurid afro that Saylee had spotted in Canalave. He glanced over his star-shaped sunglasses and pursed his lips. "So, _you're_ the meddling children who took out Team Rocket? I've heard rather a lot about you."

"None of it good, I'm sure… Blue, that woman used to be in Team Rocket," Saylee explained. "Her name's Yuki. I ran into her in Canalave. She said she ran into Galactic in Orre."

"Oh, is she the one you thought was stalking you?" Key asked, pointing at Yuki.

"To be fair, we thought _you_ were stalking _us,_ " the guy with green hair and a lot of piercings said. "We nearly ran into you like, five times, and then we saw you goin' in and out of that hotel that Michael kid manages now…"

"Speaking of life-ruiners," the spiky blond said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, can we take this from the top?" Blue said, holding up his hands. "You guys clearly know about me and Saylee from our Rocket-busting days, and this is Key Weaves, who's a Champion of Hoenn and fellow meddling kid on the Aqua and Magma front. Who exactly are _you_ people, and how do you know Looker? Are you all ex-Rocket?"

"Oh, no, just my dahling Yuki," the tall man said, squeezing Yuki's shoulders. She reached up to pat his hand but didn't stop glowering at Saylee and Blue. "The rest of _us_ are ex-Cipher. _I_ am the _fabulous_ Miror B, and these are my boys, Trudly and Folly. As Yuki mentioned, we did indeed have a little encounter with your Galactics back home in Orre, who were seeking our knowledge on… certain matters."

"I already told her that they were looking for intel on Shadow Pokémon, since she already seems to know about them," Yuki said shortly.

"The cops actually didn't totally hate us for once when we dropped those suckers on their doorstep," Trudly sniggered. "I mean, if there's one thing they _really_ give a damn about preventing, it's Shadow Pokémon cropping up again."

"They're more trouble than they're worth, dahling, truly," Miror sighed, shaking his head and putting his hands on his hips. "Interpol were quite curious about the whole affair, and since we were starting to consider the merits starting fresh somewhere a bit greener than Orre… well, we wound up in Sinnoh, where we, to answer your second question, encountered the inimitable Agent Looker."

"You told the police you were working for him," Key said. "Are you?"

"Oh, I had reservations at first, dahling," Miror said, rolling his eyes. "Working _for_ a lawman like some kind of… _lackey?_ " He shuddered dramatically.

"Your face lit up like a disco when he mentioned that the first job he'd need help with was breaking and entering," Yuki said, grinning. "You're adorable when you're contemplating criminal acts." Miror blew her a kiss.

"Breaking and entering…?" Saylee asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Goodness, dahling, you were _there_ ," Miror sighed, adjusting his glasses with a pout. "Eterna City? Agent Looker had _quite_ an interest in the Galactic building there and needed some assistance getting in. I was able to whip up a uniform for him…" He shuddered, looking sick. "…one of those awful, _awful_ uniforms… I swear, dahling, a lifetime of crime and making that uniform is _definitely_ the most evil thing I've ever done." He wrung his hands in distress.

"You'd think boss woulda gotten more points with the cops there for takin' that dyin' lady to the hospital," Folly grumbled. "That Looker dude promised us a bit more sweetness with Interpol for helpin' him do his thing, and then here they're tellin' us Interpol never heard of us!"

"Whatever bargains Looker struck with you, I'm afraid he didn't inform Interpol about them," Saylee informed them.

"That lying sack of shit," Yuki growled. "We risked our neck sorting those Galactic bitches out, and it turns out he's just gonna let us take the rap like criminals?!"

"Yuki, dahling, we _are_ criminals," Miror pointed out.

"Am I going nuts or did the words 'Interpol protection' not come up in conversation with that asshole?" Yuki said, throwing up her hands. "First chance we get, we're splitting this stupid country with its lying cops and crooks who are even dumber and less classy than _Trudly_ and _Folly._ "

"Hey!" Folly objected. "We're classy!"

"Not to mention how _absurdly_ cold it is here," Miror said, rubbing his arms and shivering. "How on earth do people live in such intolerably cold temperatures? Wes and Michael can _keep_ it. Well, if we are to take our leave, you might as well have this." He reached up, dug around in his afro and withdrew a small plastic rectangle. "It's some kind of access key, I believe, to their building in Veilstone, which I acquired during our altercation at the temple. I'm quite frankly not interested in getting _any_ further involved in the whole mess." He tossed the keycard to Saylee and then, in the moment that Saylee, Blue and Key's eyes were on the keycard, reached up for his afro again, coming out with pokéballs in one hand and several small capsules in another.

"Hey!" Blue said, reaching for his pokéballs, but Trudly got in the way, grabbing Blue's arm and pushing him back with one hand and pulling down sunglasses with the other as Miror threw the capsules at Saylee, Blue and Key's feet, where they exploded into blinding light.

Saylee lay on the floor, stunned, listening to the distant sounds of havoc. The ringing in her ears steadily ceded to Blue swearing at the top of his lungs about flashbombs and incompetent police searches. She sat up, trying to rub the flashing black spots out of her eyes.

"Yeah, _that_ makes them look way more legal," Key groaned, leaning on the wall to haul herself to her feet. "Should we go after them?"

Saylee scooped up the keycard that she'd dropped. "They're not a priority," she muttered. "We can't afford to waste a second stopping Galactic. We can deal with those four later…" She sighed heavily, rubbing the back of her neck. "I think I'll be able to find Miror B, anyway."

"You'll—wait, are you saying that…?" Key asked, groaning when Saylee nodded. "Criminals _again_? What is _with_ the gods and picking either kids or criminals?"

"Well, if _he_ gets some kind a power jewel, he can just hide it in his hair and they'll never find it," Blue muttered. "C'mon, let's go see if anybody's in a state to fly us to Veilstone…"

{}

{}

 _It's been mentioned before, but it's been a while so it bears repeating: these versions of Miror B, Trudly and Folly are all based on Luckster's fantastic blogs, the main one of which is mirorbo on tumblr. Though I originally wrote this a couple years ago and a lot's changed since then… :x Yuki Hana is Luckster's OC and I thank Luckster very very much for letting me use her and her versions of the characters (...not least because I never played the games Miror B's in and don't really know much about him ingame… :x But I love her Miror and Yuki a LOT :D)_

 _Also: I'm getting Moon. This is an absolute fact at this point. (But because I'm weak I'll probably get Sun too :P Part of me is so excited to play new Pokemon in such a pretty region… and part of me wants more story deets so I can start fic-planning XD)_

 _ **Saylee**_

 _Name: Elsa. Species: Eevee/Glaceon. Nature: Hasty. Ability: Adaptability. Level: 20. Location: Hearthome City._

 _Name: Stanley. Species: Snorunt. Nature: Jolly. Ability: Ice Body. Level: 39. Location: Lake Acuity._

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	40. Chapter 39

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18_ _Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9_ _Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6_ _Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6_ _Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 5:51 pm}_

 _{Snowpoint City}_

Saylee's emblem didn't elicit immediate co-operation from the rest of the Snowpoint police, but first a string of derisive jokes concerning the historical superiority of the ice trainers of Snowpoint over the dragon trainers of Blackthorn. It was Saylee introducing herself as "Sar Saylee _Pryce_ " that got them a helicopter and an invitation to visit Snowpoint Temple at a later date.

"Any of you ridden in a helicopter before?" asked George, the silver-haired helicopter pilot who had offered them a ride as they all climbed into the helicopter.

"Nope," Archie said, keeping his head down.

"Well, make sure you buckle up, 'cause it ain't the most steady ride in the world," George shouted over the noise of the rotors starting. They all pulled on their open-faced helmets, which blocked out most of the noise and tapped into a comm system through a jawline mic and in-helmet speakers. "Speed's prioritized over comfort on a rescue chopper, y'know?"

"Speed is good," Saylee said. "You okay, Star?"

"Leave me alone," Star growled, burying her head behind Archie's legs. She'd outright refused to go in a pokéball, no matter what, so they'd strapped her into the medical gurney set into the helicopter's floor after a long fight about having a Pokémon of her size out of her pokéball in a helicopter.

"Hey, are we allowed to make calls?" Key asked as they lifted off of the ground.

"We ain't got any medical equipment on, so sure," George replied. "If you can hear 'em, since you'll have to take your helmet off…"

"Who're you gonna call?" Blue asked.

"Barry's parents," Key shouted, taking her helmet off. "They need to be told where he is. I'll call Professor Rowan and—"

"Let me put Michael onto it," Saylee interrupted. She glanced at George, who wasn't even pretending not to be listening curiously. "I'll text him."

"Good idea," Blue said, rolling his eyes as Key pulled her helmet back on.

 _Jupiter got Riley and Barry at Lake Acuity_ , she typed. _Riley unconscious, Barry in same state as Dawn and Lucas. En route to Veilstone._ She thought for a moment, then slowly added, _keep eyes on Coronet_.

Blue nudged her in the nose with a bagel. "Eat," he shouted. "Who knows how long this is gonna take." He passed a second to Key and threw a third at Archie's head. "How long until we reach Veilstone?" he called forwards to George.

"Hour and a half," he responded.

"Good enough," Key said. "You want a bagel, George?"

Saylee's Pokégear buzzed with a text reply. All it said was " _Shit."_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:09 pm_ }

{ _Veilstone City}_

It had been snowing in Veilstone, but the thin coating was nothing compared to Snowpoint. The four humans walked through the busy streets with Caelin, Prince, Star and Terra.

"There's the Galactic offices," Archie said, pointing in the direction of the dark bulk of the tower block. "The building with all the satellite dishes and antennae." The dishes themselves were covered in blinking lights and were lit from underneath, which was how they knew where the tower block was.

"Because _that's_ not suspicious at all," Key said sarcastically as they hurried up the road.

"Officer Looker seems to feel the same way," Blue said, pointing at a couple of figures struggling under one of the satellite dishes.

"But what are these antenna _for_?!" Looker demanded, pointing emphatically at the antenna that he and the grunt were standing under.

"Hell if I know, but they're _good_ antennae, right?" the grunt said defensively. When he pushed Looker aside and tried to storm past, the grunt was jumped by Caelin and Star at the same moment, glaring at each other as they pinned him to the ground.

"He is _my_ prey," Star growled over the struggling man's shouts.

"Nonsense," Caelin said loftily. "He is _ours_ to dispose of. All Galactic are."

"Perhaps you could split him down the middle and share?" Terra suggested brightly, making the man freeze and go rapidly pale. Prince chuckled.

"Hello, ladies!" Looker said brightly to Key and Saylee. "Ah, so you have found man for which you are looking, and it is Mr Oak! And another man too!" Archie flinched when Looker looked curiously at him. "This man, he goes pale when he is seeing an officer of the law! He is a criminal, no?"

"Speaking of criminals," Saylee deflected, "we ran into your accomplices in Snowpoint… Miror B, Yuki Hana, Troy Trudly and Heboy Folly?"

"Ah! Yes, they are odd people, are they not?" Looker commented shamelessly. "But they are very skilled trainers, yes, and quite clever. You may think that it is odd for me to enlist their assistance, but it is not so unusual for Interpol to seek the aid of criminals to capture much worse criminals. And everyone should be offered a chance to make good, yes?"

"Very generous of you," Archie murmured.

"Yeah, except their version of 'giving assistance', in Snowpoint, apparently involved assaulting some Galactic members who were messing with the temple," Blue pointed out. "That brought them to the attention of the police, which brought to _our_ attention the fact that Interpol's never heard of them and apparently expects _you_ to be in Kanto."

"Ah… eh…" Looker smiled sheepishly. "I have very good subordinates who are handling that case very well in my place. Galactic, I think, is more important, do you not agree?"

"Well, as it happens, we agree," Saylee said, holding up the keycard she'd gotten from Miror B. "I'm not your superior officer, I can't do anything about it. But you just got transferred into Interpol, right? Why immediately risk that to fight Galactic?"

"If Cyrus Akagi's plans come to fruition and reality is unmade, I will have no job anyway," Looker said with a shrug. "I am hoping for forgiveness instead of asking for permission, as they say. That keycard, what is it for?"

"Veilstone Warehouses, according to your unofficial criminal underlings," Blue said, glancing over at Star and Caelin and their captive. "How about we move while we still have a reality?"

"Shall we dispose of this cretin and be on our way, then?" Caelin snarled.

"Look, we can't kill him, you know that," Saylee sighed. "We just need to knock him out and leave him for the police to pick up."

"Star can taze him, can't you?" Archie asked.

"I guess, hon, if it's you askin'," Star sighed, glaring pointedly at Caelin. The princess huffed and stood up, flicking out her fur cape as she stepped away. Star let out a brief zap of electricity and the man fell unconscious. Star and Caelin then returned to snarling at each other.

"Let's just go and give them somebody else to attack," Key muttered.

"If we may access Galactic Warehouse now, then follow me!" Looker declared, hurrying off.

"Hey! _We're_ the ones with the access key!" Saylee yelled after him.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:18 pm_ }

{ _Veilstone City}_

Looker showed them a secret hole that he'd made in the fence around the warehouse. Saylee sent Zoe and Shanks ahead to scope the place out as the five humans, Star and Caelin squeezed through one at a time and made their way around to the warehouse entrance.

"I can't see much in there," Zoe said as she flapped back down to them, sounding a little confused. "There's some boxes and stuff, but…"

"That's 'cause it's all underground," Shanks said, popping out of the wall. "Big ol' mess o' machinery an' stolen Pokémon down there."

"Reminds me of the Game Corner," Saylee muttered, swiping the card that allowed them into the building.

"We don't have time for stealth," Blue declared. "We'll have to Silph it. Does it branch off much, Shanks?"

"Well, there's a set o' portpads at the end o' the first room, hell knows where they're goin'," Shanks said. "Five o' 'em."

"Five of us too, yes?" Looker said, pointing around the humans. "To be co-ordinating teams!"

"Well, we all have our own teams," Key said, patting the pokéballs on her belt. "But Shanks and Raiden can also travel through walls…"

"If we can't get signal down there, you guys can zap around and let us know if anyone's found anything important, alright?" Blue said to Shanks.

"Aye aye," Shanks said with a grin and a salute.

"I'm amazed that you're actually going to let me run alone," Archie chuckled.

"Raiden'll zap you if you try to run off or anything, won't you, Raiden?" Key said sweetly, releasing her little electric ghost.

"I'll follow 'im too," Shanks promised. "That boy's better off wi' ye all, I swear."

"Great, so… where'd Looker go?" Saylee said, looking around. There was a distinct lack of trenchcoated Interpol agent.

"He said something about going in ahead and ran off," Star said.

"Argh," Saylee sighed, running into the warehouse. A large trapdoor in the floor had been wrenched open by something strong enough to leave claw marks in the metal.

"Aren't those Aggron claw marks?" Key said, running her hand over the scarred metal.

"You know, I've never really seen any of Looker's Pokémon," Blue commented, looking at Saylee. "Have you?"

"Well, we're not in Violet that much," Saylee said, shaking her head as she looked over the claw marks. If they were from an Aggron, it was a _big_ one. "Come on. Let's get a move on. Did anyone see which teleporter he went through?"

"The one on the far right," Zoe said as they ran down the stairs and into the small entry hall that was concealed below. Five glowing yellow portpads were set into the floor at the end. There was, unlike in Eterna, no signage to indicate where anything went.

"See you on the other side," Blue said. Saylee caught Zoe in her arms just before they went through the portpad together.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:29 pm_ }

{ _Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

Key was so intent on helping direct Maya to Ice Beam a flock of Golbat to the ground that she nearly jumped out of her skin when her Pokénav rang. " _I thought these wouldn't get signal in here_ ," she heard Blue saying when she picked up, shifting Terra into one of her arms while she held her 'nav up to her ears.

" _I'm not sure that all of us are still underground,_ " Saylee replied. " _Plus, have you_ seen _the tech level here? Did everyone make it through alright?_ "

" _When did you get my number?_ " Archie asked suspiciously. " _STAR! BEHIND YOU! BITE!"_

" _Guilty_ ," Blue said. " _Everything okay?_ "

"I think I'm in offices of some sort," Key said, making a face at a cupboard full of business ledgers. Galactic kept a surprising number of paper records. _Maybe they feel more secure watching things burn than deleting data. Or maybe they just don't want their glitched-up Porygon to have access to everything..._ "Archie, are you okay?"

" _Yeah, just having to walk careful. I'm in some kind of tunnel… it's a bit mouldy and damp, and Star's on a rampage any time she sees a Galactic uniform go by. They're mostly transporting stolen Pokémon. I've been releasing them, obviously._ "

" _I think I'm in living quarters,_ " Blue reported. " _Girish, go Dragon Claw that sucker! Anyway, this place is a serious bloody cult. Some of 'em have_ kids _here, did you know? I found a classroom for kids, anyway, and there's this big picture of Cyrus over the whiteboard and a display of kids' drawings of him. Really fucking creepy, you know?_ "

"Key, look out!" Gareth called, yanking Key inside as a Glameow slashed at her.

"Now _that_ is _most_ rude," Ephraim scoffed, biting down on the attacker and holding it down while Terra sprayed it with Stun Spore.

"Are you okay, Lady Key?" Terra asked, peering down at her trainer's leg to see if the Glameow had gotten her.

"I'm fine," Key said. "Thanks, Gareth. Tashigi, can you get that guy at the end of the hall?" She pulled her Pokénav back to her ear.

"… _nobody here, though,_ " Blue was saying. " _It's completely empty."_

" _So're these labs,_ " Saylee said. " _It looks like they've cleared the place out…_ "

"Uh, Key?" Tashigi said, flying down the hall towards her. "There are some Galactics down here that are already unconscious…"

"Maybe someone else is around here? Like Officer Looker?" Key suggested, following Tashigi down the hall and stepping over a couple of unconscious, green-haired goons. The door they were lying in front of stood ajar.

"I smell humans in there," Ephraim whispered. "One's a female."

"I am completely unsurprised that you can tell that," Terra said dryly. "Our plan, Lady Key?"

"Bust in with Gareth and Ephraim, Tashigi and Maya as backup," Key whispered, pocketing her Pokénav. "Go!"

They charged through, into the plush, spacious office. Ephraim yelped as he was immediately tackled to the ground by a Houndoom, whom Maya blasted off of him with a Water Pulse. Gareth's Slash was blocked by the claws of a Sandslash. A large red Sandslash.

"…Quillamina?" Key gasped. "Guys, hold!"

"Fancy meeting you here," Bacent said, leaning around the holodisplay that he was looking at, seated in the comfy-looking black swivel chair behind a sleek silver desk. Ledah was sitting on the edge of the desk, juggling three red stones. Both of them were wearing Galactic uniforms, ugly green wigs carelessly tossed onto the silver carpet.

"How long have you been here?" Key said in surprise. "And what have you stolen this time?"

"We jacked these back in Eterna," Ledah said, tweaking her grey uniform with a disgusted look on her face, "and we've been waiting for our moment to make our move on the bulk of their ill-gotten gains."

"There's almost nobody here to fight," Gavian, Bacent's Houndoom, complained, steaming as he heated water off of himself. "They're all at some rally or something."

"I'm trying to find out what's up with this virus that Circles caught off their computers in Eterna, too," Bacent said, tapping something that was moving rapidly across the display. Circles appeared in front of them, visibly distorted. His head appeared to be upside-down and no longer connected to his body, while his limbs glitched in and out of random positions and jerked erratically.

"I assure you that my functionality is not impaired," Circles said. His voice was jarringly distorted. "Quite the opposite. This graphical glitch appears to be the result of a significant upgrade to my systems. I am not in discomfort. I quite enjoy being able to walk through top-level encrypted firewalls as if they do not exist."

"Porygon-Z," Key realized. "It's an illegal upgrade made by a scientist working for Galactic Corp to do illegal stuff. I don't think it'll hurt him, but it's… well. Pretty illegal."

"Not surprised, but good to know," Bacent commented, watching Circles disappear back into the computer.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Quillamina snapped Key looked around to see that Ephraim was jumping up at Ledah, trying to lean his forepaws against her stomach as he leaned up and sniffed.

"Down, boy," Key said, dragging him away.

"But those stones smell familiar!" Ephraim said insistently. "Like… like… I know that smell!"

"The stones?" Tashigi said, fluttering over to Ledah. "What are they?"

"May I see those, please?" Gareth said, holding his hands out to Ledah.

"Stole 'em from a lab here," Ledah said, holding the stones out but not handing them to Gareth. "Do you know what they are and if they're valuable?"

Key peered at the stones. They were all oval shapes, not much more than an inch long and a deep ruby colour.

{}

{}

 _As promised, the time for talking about things is over :P Also, next Friday I'm leaving for the US for my grandparents' memorial thing, which involves spending a week and a half in a secluded cabin with no phone signal or internet but an abundant supply of rabidly Republican relatives. Pray for my sanity. In my absence, the fabulous Key-chan is planning to post up chapters 40 and 41 on time, though, so never fear \o/_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Sutekh the Spiritomb, Basil the Buizel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	41. Chapter 40

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:29 pm}_

 _{Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

"I just don't see why you let those _human_ girls hang all _over_ you," Star huffed, lightly tasering a Galactic grunt as he came into view around the curve of the tunnel, pushing a cage full of Clefairy. Prince got to work smashing the cage open, freeing the cheering fairies. "And you! _You_ were supposed to tell _her_ that the betrothal's off, not the other way around!"

"It did all work out in the end anyway, so why does it matter?" Prince asked, smashing open another cage. "It possibly worked out better. Caelin's pride is clearly still controlling her a great deal, and likely would have been a problem had I been the one breaking things off with her. As it stands, we have been able to proceed amiably to more important matters." He looked pointedly at a few more Clefairy that were climbing nervously out of their cage.

Star made a disgusted noise. "You're such a _diplomat_ ," she said scornfully. "Why don't you help Archie get those humans away from him, huh?"

"Those girls knew Archie before you, though," Pegasus pointed out, stepping out of the way of the fleeing Clefairy.

"Yeah, but he _ran away_ from them," Star insisted. "You didn't _want_ them following you, did you, hon?"

"I ran away, yeah…" Archie muttered, "but I don't hate that they came after me… not surprised that they want to arrest me, but I am surprised that Saylee in particular's letting me go for now. It's not like I don't deserve it."

"What you do is none of their business," Star insisted. "What's their _problem_ , following you all the way—?"

"Star, look out!" Basil shouted, tackling her down as a blade of black energy sliced over her head.

"Basil!" Star yelled as the Buizel cried out and collapsed. "Are you okay?!"

"Basil!" Archie called, running over to his Pokémon and grinding his teeth as a dozen Galactic goons surrounded them, running down the hall from a teleportation pad at the far end.

"Intruder alert!" one of them yelled, gesturing to a small knot of grunts at the back of the group. "Take 'em back!"

"Mister!" a little girl screamed, pushing past the legs of one of the grunts. "Help—!" One of the grunts kicked her back. From behind the grunts, Archie heard a woman scream and a man swear violently.

 _Hostages,_ Archie realized as Pegasus reared up and shot a Flamethrower at several Golbat that were chasing Warin. "Let those people go!" he ordered.

"Return your Pokémon and come quietly," one goon called, a woman who stuck out a little from all of the identically-dressed grunts by having the same ugly sneer as her Glameow. "They're strong, and will well serve the glorious cause of Team Galactic!"

"Are you kidding? They barely listen to _me_ ," Archie said, palming his last pokéball. "Go nuts, Sutekh. Warin, shield the hostages!"

The Beautifly nodded, dropping down among the knot of Galactics at the back, but before any of them could react, the hallway was filled with a mix of cackling and screaming as the Spiritomb was released. The grunts began to collapse to the ground, screaming and sobbing at whatever the dark purple fog that Sutekh was exuding was doing to them, while the hostages remained safe behind the glow of Warin's Safeguard (though whether Safeguard was actually protecting them, or if Sutekh had taken Warin using the move as a "leave these ones alone" signal, Archie wasn't sure). There were four hostages: the girl who'd been kicked, who had long brown hair, tan skin and a black eye that suggested to Archie that she'd probably mouthed off to the grunts before; a teenage boy with paler skin and darker hair that she was leaning on, who was nevertheless similar enough in the shape of his face and the brown colour of his eyes to probably be her brother, a theory supported by the protective way he was half-carrying her and going out of his way to stand on any flailing Galactic grunts that they passed by; a middle-aged woman with short brown hair and glasses, who actually looked like a taller and less angry Saylee; and a middle-aged man who was even taller than Archie with neatly parted silver hair, a scraggly silver moustache and beard (probably the result of being confined for a long time and not being allowed to shave, since he kept scratching irritably at it and clearly wasn't the beard type), glasses and a stern expression. While the woman and the two children—probably hers, since she was hovering close to them and glowering angrily at the Galactic grunts on the floor and kicking any in reach—were wearing pyjamas, the man was wearing a mauve suit and cravat that he kept straightening, though all of their clothes were rumpled and dirty from however long they'd been in confinement.

"Thank you so much!" the woman cried, hugging Archie around the neck as Pegasus and Star moved protectively between the hostages and the Galactic grunts on the floor. Star shot the woman a glare but otherwise let the freed hostages express their relief. "Are you a ranger?"

"Not one from Sinnoh," the man noted, peering closely at Archie, who ducked his head and focused on healing his Pokémon. "But thank you. We are in your debt for rescuing us." He bowed graciously.

"Please don't," Archie said quickly. He handed his C-Gear to the woman. "Here… I'm guessing you're Mrs Hawkshaw, right? You might want to all your husband and let him know that you're free. Are there any other hostages here?"

"Not that we've seen," Mrs Hawkshaw said, scowling as she dialled her husband's number. "Ooooh, they've been using us to make Dick stall the investigations against them, haven't they? They're gonna pay for that now!"

"Dad's gonna kick their _butts_!" the girl said triumphantly. Her brother just kicked another grunt as they all started moving down the hall, away from Sutekh and his play, Archie's Pokémon putting themselves between the humans and the cackling ghost just in case.

"Basil, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Star moaned as Archie picked up the twitching Buizel, who hadn't gotten up since defending Star. "I was charging up an attack. Are you okay?"

"Tingles," Basil muttered, but he managed to smile as Archie sprayed him with a Paralyze Heal. "I'm fine. Are you okay? You weren't hit, were you?"

"Quite the unexpected heroics from you, Basil," Warin commented, sitting on Archie's shoulder to duck out of the way of a Galactic goon who ran past them, screaming and clawing at his own eyes.

"Thank you, too," the man said, petting Warin's head. Behind him, Mrs Hawkshaw was laughing almost hysterically as yells of incoherent joy came out of the C-Gear. "I know we can have faith in you to protect us from these fools until Detective Hawkshaw and the Veilstone Police take the building. Milo Hunter," he added, shaking Archie's hand. "You know the Hawkshaws?"

"No, I, uh… just heard that Detective Hawkshaw's family had been taken hostage," Archie explained. "And a prosecutor, too… and I think they were threatening the kids of the guy who's running their defence just now. Court? I remember being amazed that that was his actual _name…_ "

Milo's expression darkened. "They've been making him _defend_ them?" he growled contemptuously, glowering down at a Glameow that was screeching piteously and clawing at its ears.

"You know, they might be trying to end the world," Pegasus commented, "but I am starting to feel somewhat sorry for them. Is using Sutekh not overkill?"

"Sutekh is literally made of overkill," Archie said, spraying potion over Prince's wounds. "But yeah, if you guys are ready to go again, I should—" He looked up to Sutekh's Keystone and froze up in shock.

Cyrus was walking down the hall, among all of his panicked and screaming underlings, completely blank-faced. Some of the howling spirits that made up Sutekh were flying in and out of him, clearly attempting to possess and torment him as they were the rest of the people and Pokémon in the hall, but whatever they were doing was drawing no reaction whatsoever.

"You," Archie demanded, grabbing a woman who was rolling around on the floor and tearing her hair out, "what the hell are you seeing?"

"IT BURNS!" she screamed. "I'M BURNING! WE'RE ALL BURNING! OH GODS! OH GODS NO! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP—"

"Um… what _is_ happening to them?" Mrs Hawkshaw asked, handing Archie his C-Gear and dragging her children away from the approaching Galactic Leader. Milo stepped protectively in front of the family.

"Didn't that creepy priestess at the Lost Tower say that all of the souls in Sutekh were people who were burned alive?" Prince commented. "Are they… experiencing those deaths?"

"I don't know why it's not affecting Cyrus, but this can't be good," Archie said, stepping towards Cyrus. "You four—keep heading for the end of the passage, okay? Just keep back. Warin, see if he can keep going through a Psybeam!"

Warin glowed pink as he fired a concentrated beam of psychic energy at Cyrus. The man ducked and rolled underneath the attack, releasing a Honchkrow as he did so. "Drill Peck," Cyrus ordered monotonously.

"Warin, get back!" Archie shouted sharply. "Star, zap him!"

Star leapt at the Honchkrow, but behind them Cyrus kept walking, and Archie finally spotted his target. The man was walking right towards Sutekh's keystone, and while he still showed no emotion, there was a terrible sort of intent on his sharp features.

"Sutekh, drop 'em and get back to the damn Keystone now!" Archie shouted, clicking frantically with Sutekh's pokéball as it refused to react to what was, for the time being, an empty rock. Some of the wailing spirits started leaving their victims and returning to the stone, but not enough and not fast enough. Archie started running, but he had to dive back out of the way as Star nearly blasted a semiconscious Honchkrow into him. He got back to his feet just as Cyrus precisely drove his heel down into the crack in Sutekh's stone.

Archie slammed his hands over his ears as all of the disembodied spirits shrieked in unison, reaching a pitch that was physically painful. He couldn't see if it had affected Cyrus or not, but there was a second pulsing shriek, and then a third, and then… nothing.

Archie staggered to his feet, leaning against the wall, and stared in shock at the unconscious people and Pokémon strewn across the ground, unharassed by angry spirits, and the scattered pieces of dust and rubble at Cyrus' feet. The Galactic leader himself remained impassive as he released a Crobat to cover his mildly fried Honchkrow.

 _It was that easy?_ Archie thought dazedly, staring at the dust. _I didn't know that the stone could be destroyed like that… then again, could I have survived an attempt to crush it like that?_

"S-Star!" Archie shouted as the Crobat flung an Air Cutter at his dazed Luxray. Cyrus was the only Galactic in the hallway still standing, and he had turned and was walking away.

"Finish them," he tossed over his shoulder. "Kill the hostages and dump their bodies in front of the police. I have to attend the rally."

"No you don't!" Archie shouted, staggering forwards. His head was still ringing, though, and somehow that damn Crobat seemed to be everywhere, forcing Archie to fling himself backwards to avoid getting a Bite to the throat.

"You leave him alone!" Star shouted, attempting to hit the Crobat with a Charge Beam, but she was woozy too and missed the nimble bat. Pegasus made an attempt with a flamethrower, but the Crobat dodged that too and bit into Star's side. She roared and zapped it away, then collapsed as purple poison started oozing out of the wound.

"Star!" Prince shouted, firing an Ice Beam at the Crobat, but it dodged that too. "Damn you! Stay still!"

"Awww, has baby not gotten out of his nest and learned to hit moving targets yet?" the Crobat said with a sneer, flinging an Air Cutter at Prince. The Empoleon was bowled over backwards, knocking down Pegasus just as the dazed Rapidash was getting back to his feet. "Why don't you just save us all some time and—ah ah ahhh! Healing's cheating!" he crowed, flying towards Archie and baring his fangs as Archie tried to get over to Star with an antidote.

"Okay, you're REALLY annoying!" Basil growled, his voice deepening perceptibly as he lunged forwards—only he wasn't moving, Archie realized after a moment. He was _growing_.

The Floatzel reared up on his hind paws, roaring a Blizzard at the startled Crobat. Basil didn't stop roaring until the entire hall was iced over.

" _Wow_ ," Warin said after a long, quiet moment of Basil panting and Archie spraying Antidote into Star's wound. "When you get angry, Basil, you really go all the way, don't you?"

"Wow… that wasn't a poison hallucination, then, was it?" Star said, staring up at the wall of ice encasing the Crobat in the middle of the hall. "Look at _you_ , sweetie! All evolved and everythin'! Congrats!"

"Thanks," Basil panted. "Wow… that actually felt pretty good."

"We all knew you had it in you," Prince said, slapping him on the back.

"And we are… extremely grateful that you do," Warin added, flapping around dazedly. "Pegasus? Can you stand? Do you know how many legs you have?"

"Three?" Pegasus hazarded. "That _sound_ …"

"What happened to your… whatever that was?" Milo asked, gesturing at the rock fragments left on the ground.

"Is it dead?" the girl whispered.

Archie glanced down at the remains of Sutekh, wondering what had happened to the ghosts within. _If Shanks were here, maybe he'd know… I'll ask him the next time I see him. "_ I'm… not too sure he was actually _alive_ ," Archie said, giving Star a comforting scratch behind the ears. "Pegasus… do you need a Persim berry?"

"No, I… okay, four, right?" Pegasus said, looking to Warin for confirmation. The Beautifly nodded. "Four. Okay. Just give me a moment and I'll be back on my hooves. My ears are still ringing, but I'll be fine."

"Okay…" he looked back at the ice wall that the Crobat was trapped in. Most of the unconscious Galactics were stuck on the other side of the ice, some also partially stuck in it, but there were still a few on their side of the hallway. "We'd better get you out of here before any of them wake up," he said to the hostages.

"I'm sure we could find our way out," Mrs Hawkshaw said, clutching her children. "Are you sure you don't need to go after Cyrus and find out where he's going in such a hurry?"

"I need to get all of you to safety so there's nothing stopping the police from taking the building," Archie insisted. Milo nodded in agreement. "Besides… I'm not the only person here. There's a ranger and a gym leader from Kanto and Hoenn's new Champion elsewhere in the building, and trust me, they're all _much_ better than me at stopping evil plans."

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:35 pm_ }

{ _Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

"Did ya hear that?" Shanks asked, looking around the empty laboratory. They'd already swept the place and confirmed that there were neither people nor Pokémon, just abandoned desks and emptied cupboards.

"What?" Saylee asked warily, withdrawing from a bank of computers that she'd been approaching.

"Like… a scream," Shanks said uneasily. "Did any of ya hear it?"

"Nothing, sorry," Zoe said, flicking her ears. "Did it sound like one of ours?"

"If you want to check it out, go," Saylee said, approaching a computer again. "Go on."

"Ta," Shanks said, diving through the floor.

"Perhaps the fight is raging not far away," Caelin commented, glancing at the door to the lab.

"Well, there's not a soul around here," Elsa reported, sniffing around the room.

"They've really cleared the place out, huh?" Zoe said, landing on top of a huge glass tank that was empty save for traces of some kind of pinkish fluid at the bottom. "What do you think this was?"

"I couldn't say," Saylee said, turning on a computer and sighing in frustration at the login screen. "What I wouldn't give for a Porygon… I have no idea how to get into these things myself."

Sally looked sharply at the wall, her eye blinking into x-ray mode. "M'lady, someone's coming," she warned.

Ferne crouched next to the door, fangs bared. "I'll get him," she promised.

"Elsa, Sally, you two take up positions around the door," Saylee ordered. They did so, Caelin shifting her position on Sally's back so she was poised to leap. "Ferne first, then Sally if she needs backup. Tackles only, no electricity." Her Pokémon nodded, turning their attention to the door as it hissed open.

Ferne charged. "Think again!" a large blue-and-red Salamence snarled as he tackled Ferne back.

"Elsa, Ice Fang!" Saylee ordered. Elsa skittered up onto the Salamence's back and started ripping at its wings with her teeth, making it howl and step off of Ferne. Sally tackled the accompanying Galactic grunt to the ground.

"Hold, Sal," Caelin suddenly ordered, stepping off of the Luxray's back and ripping the man's green wig off. "Aren't you…?"

"Sar, must you always greet me by having your Pokémon attack me?" Lance said dryly.

"Must you always turn up dressed like a criminal, Sir?" Saylee retorted. "Elsa, get down. Everyone, to me." She caught Zoe in her arms as the Crobat fluttered down to her. Lance stood up, dusting himself down pointedly.

"Calm down, Sumatra," he said, pulling a bottle of Max Potion out of his pocket and going to tend to his wounded and angry Salamence. "I hear you've been slipping as a guardian, Sar."

"How dare you speak as such to her!" Caelin snapped. "Had those foolish children simply obeyed their orders, they would not have been harmed!"

"So they disobeyed. As you may have noticed from dealing with Ethan Goldberg and Roark Pryce, children do that," Lance pointed out. " _You've_ failed to protect them, and now Cyrus has completed the Red Chain."

"Oh, _crap_ ," Saylee muttered, gritting her teeth at Lance's condescending tone. "Wait, how do you know about that?"

"How did I find out about Galactic's plans by working undercover among them while you were running around after eco-terrorists?" Lance said pointedly. "Have you even identified Dialga and Palkia's avatars? Unlike Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie, _they_ don't have removable parts."

"Those eco-terrorists very nearly set off an apocalypse, so forgive me for dealing with that instead of stalking nihilists," Saylee snapped back. "And I… think I know about one of the avatars, but…" She pulled off her glasses to clean them, which had the bonus effect of making Lance's smug grin impossible to see.

"Well, according to the lovely ladies of Ecruteak, their present avatars are in Sinnoh now," Lance said, chucking the empty potion bottle under a vacated desk. "Do you have a better plan for keeping Dialga and Palkia out of Cyrus' control?"

"Indeed we do," Caelin said levelly. "We kill him. With our bare hands, for preference."

"I like her," Sumatra said with a sharp grin.

"Me too, but she'll have a tough time getting to him right now," Lance said, returning Sumatra and leaning to pick up his wig. "Grab that labcoat and follow me. The rally's about to start."

"What rally?" Saylee asked, replacing her glasses and grabbing the indicated labcoat.

"Hell if I know, but that's where every Galactic member in the building has gone, so I'd think it would be important to check it out, wouldn't you?" Lance said, peering in the side of the empty tank as he smoothed a few errant red strands of hair under his wig.

{}

{}

 _Some technical difficulties meant that this chapter didn't go up while I was away last week, so instead this week there's a SCIENCE FICTION DOUBLE FEATURE! Or a regular double feature where I'm loopy from 28 hours of flights, flight delays and taxis._

 _ **Archie**_

 _RIP Sutekh the Spiritomb, level 25-49_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	42. Chapter 41

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 4_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:42 pm}_

 _{Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

"I'm sorry, repeat that," Blue said into his pokétch, looking around an empty coffee room. Mugs of cold coffee were scattered around the tables, all with the Galactic Corp label stamped on them. "It sounded like you just said _Lance_ is here. I mean, I know you said he's in the country, but he's actually in the same _building_ as us? I don't think I have enough armour on for that…"

" _Who?_ " Archie asked.

" _That weirdo we met in Celestic Town? He's still following Cyrus?_ " Key asked.

" _We're sneaking into the rally,_ " Saylee said. " _Sounds like Cyrus is announcing the endgame._ "

" _So that's what he was in such a hurry about…_ " Archie muttered. " _I saw him a while ago, but he smashed Sutekh and got away. Didn't follow him because I found the hostages and I'm taking them back out the building. It's all gone pretty empty, though. We haven't had any more trouble._ "

"I guess the rally is why the halls are so empty," Blue said, walking along to the next room. Girish was sitting on top of an unconscious scientist next to a large portpad.

"I think he was supposed to be standing guard, but he was just watching TV," Girish laughed, pointing at the football game on the screen.

"If he's standing guard, I'm guessing this pad goes somewhere too important to be left alone for the rally," Blue said, knocking his foot against the side of the portpad. "Hell, it probably _is_ the rally." He stepped out into the hall and called to his Pokémon. "We clear?"

"Not a soul conscious," Sam reported, edging down a hallway that wasn't wide enough for a Blastoise.

"Smells like a hell of a lot of people came through here, though," Gary added, following after her.

"This place has more electrical power than anywhere else in the entire region," Eira commented, static crackling off of her arms as she looked around. "It's… kinda creepy."

"Right," Blue declared. "Everyone away except Rashad. Until we're through that portpad, we're on stealth mode." He returned everyone except his Lucario. "Rashad, are you in control regards the whole roaring rampage of revenge thing?"

"Lucario are _always_ in control," Rashad said indignantly, crossing his forepaws. "…But Galactic _will_ pay for my brother's death and my father's injuries."

" _We're at the back of the rally,_ " Saylee whispered. " _They're all just sitting and staring at the empty stage. I have to admit, I'm surprised we haven't set any alarms off._ "

" _Oh, Circles is controlling the security circuit at the moment,_ " Key said. " _He's ensuring that the executives don't know that anything's going on._ "

"I don't know who that is, but I like 'im," Blue said, stepping onto the portpad with Rashad. He came out in a small, darkened room, but through the open door he could see ranks of identically-dressed Galactic members sitting and staring up at a raised stage, just as Saylee had described.

 _Behind you_ , he felt rather than heard Rashad say. He turned to see Looker emerging from the shadows, a finger pressed over his lips.

"We are watching quietly now, yes?" the officer whispered. "Ah, you share a bond with a Lucario! Very fine warriors, Lucario, very fine companions. This is my Rory." He gestured to a taller, older Lucario that shadowed him silently. "Rory, this is Blue Oak and…?"

"Rashad," Rashad introduced himself quietly. He and Rory sniffed each other, then simultaneously went stock-still, ears perking and hackles rising.

"This dead aura…" Rashad muttered.

"…is _him_ ," Rory said, peering out at the hall. Blue and Looker pressed themselves to the wall by the door, peering into the hall.

Cyrus had walked onstage.

The Galactic grunts suddenly went wild, cheering and clapping for their leader, smiling and whooping in fervent joy. Cyrus waved to the crowd, smiling broadly, but there was something plastic about it, something fake and automated.

"Fellow members of Team Galactic! Hear me!" Cyrus called, stepping up to the front of the stage. He must have had a collar mike, because his voice boomed around the entire room. The Galactic members instantly quieted down, sitting in rapt silence. They looked enthralled enough to be holding their breath in order to hear him better.

"My name, as I appear to you today, is Cyrus," he continued, looking around the room. "This world of ours is a cruel one. In a word, it is _incomplete_." Blue had heard people say the word 'paedophile' with less open disgust and contempt. "It has been, and always will be, a struggle to survive in this world," Cyrus continued, projecting sorrow. "We humans and Pokémon are likewise incomplete. Because we are all so lacking, we fight, we maim… it is ugly."

Blue went cold as a screen behind Cyrus flickered to life, displaying black-and-white images from ancient wars where humans and Pokémon ripped each other apart. They were replaced by poor-quality videos of Lugia destroying Ecruteak, then more videos from throughout the ages, images of crime in Orre, of warfare between nations, of fighting between humans and Pokémon in Kanto, Team Rocket fighting in the streets of Goldenrod, visceral images of brutal murders—including Professor Hawkshaw and her Girafarig lying dead on her office floor (Blue couldn't help thinking how hypocritical that was, given that a Galactic member had killed her)—death and destruction as Groudon and Kyogre battled it out…

Blue looked over at Looker to see the normally genial man tight-lipped, fists clenched and face shocking white, breathing heavily through his nose like he was suppressing the urge to vomit. Rory had an intent look of concern directed at his trainer. The whole time, Galactic members were booing and shouting at the horrible images on display. Somewhere in the crowd, children were crying.

"I hate the incompleteness!" Cyrus bellowed as the video ended. They all immediately fell silent. "That we are all incomplete, I hate it with my entire body and being. The world should be complete. The world must change. So, then, who will change it?"

"CYRUS! CYRUS! CYRUS!" the grunts chanted excitedly, working themselves up into a frenzy until Cyrus held up his hand for silence. Once again, they quieted instantly.

"Me, Cyrus," he agreed. "And Team Galactic. Yes, all of you. Together, we pored over myths and absorbed their secrets. Together, we captured legendary Pokémon. And now, Team Galactic has obtained the energy to change the world!" Cyrus' voice kept rising as he shouted to his increasingly excited audience.

"Quite the _performance_ , no?" Looker spat under his breath. "Mesmerizing, for one only twenty-seven years old..."

 _He's playing them,_ Blue thought, watching Cyrus' excited grin extend no further than his mouth. _And they're lapping it up._

He finally spotted Saylee, standing at the back in a labcoat and hastily slapped-on green wig, noticeable as just about the only person in the crowd not cheering excitedly, aside from the tall Galactic grunt standing next to her with his arms folded and an exasperated look on his face. _Lance. Well, he never did like people hurting Pokémon…_

"The power of dreams is within our grasp!" Cyrus shouted. "Understand it, fellow members! My long-held dream world is on the verge of becoming reality! All those headed to Mt Coronet, and those who remain… though our missions may differ, our hearts beat as one. Let there be glory for Team Galactic!"

The crowd erupted into wild, hysterical cheering. Mars, Saturn and Jupiter appeared onstage, with the two female admins descending into the crowd and those grunts assigned to them falling in step behind them. Mars started walking towards Blue and Looker, while Jupiter went to the other side of the room.

"Back, back!" Looker hissed, pulling Blue into the shadows as the horde, led by a happily skipping Mars, made a beeline for their teleport pad. Rashad and Rory disappeared upwards, clinging to the ceiling above them. The group were too hyped up and focused to notice Blue and Looker hiding in the shadows as they hurried towards the portpad. "Arresting Cyrus is the priority," Looker muttered. "This will be much easier when most of the Team Galactic have left."

A good number of Galactic grunts remained seated; several of them were the children whose existence Blue had inferred from finding the classroom, dressed in the same Galactic uniforms as their parents. Most of them were still a little teary-eyed from the overwrought emotions of the rally, but they all continued watching the stage intently as Saturn stepped up to the mic.

"Now, there's been a slight change to your mission orders here," he announced. "Major promotions are on offer to whoever brings us the heads of those two intruders!" He pointed directly at Saylee and Lance, who stood up warily as all eyes turned to them. "Bodies not required to be attached."

Lance sighed, pulled his wig off and released a huge Dragonite whose head brushed the high ceiling of the hall and who had long Charizard-claw scars along his sides. _Damien,_ Blue realized, recognizing Lance's largest and most powerful Pokémon. _Lance is starting with the big guns._ The children screamed and fled past Blue and Looker towards the portpad, as did a few adults, but the rest started circling Saylee, Lance and Damien. Saylee pulled off her wig and released her Pokémon. Saturn and Cyrus turned to walk off the stage.

"Halt!" Looker shouted, running towards the stage with Rory in tow. A few Galactic grunts peeled off to attack him, but Blue and Rashad got in the way.

"Force Palm!" Blue ordered. Rashad slapped aside a large Purugly as it made towards Looker. The officer waved at Blue and released an Aggron, who gave him and Rory a boost onto the stage before climbing up itself as the three gave chase.

"Out of the way, PEASANTS!" Blue heard Caelin snarl. She and Sally were barrelling through the crowd, intent on the stage, but they were waylaid by a band of Toxicroak. Zoe swept in to aid them, and Blue sent out Sam, Gary, Girish, Eira and Adam to help.

Shanks suddenly appeared, flinging Shadow Balls fairly randomly around the melee. "Kiddo's comin' ta give backup soon as he can find a way through!" he called, ignoring a Purugly slashing at him.

"Different day, same old story, huh?" Sam said, hosing down some Galactic grunts.

"Yeah, kinna gettin' déjà vu," Gary agreed. "Hey, Saylee ain't related to any of these assholes, is she?"

"I heard that!" Saylee shouted as she ran past in the wake of Sally and Caelin.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:50 pm_ }

{ _Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

"Lee? Blue? Hello?" Key called repeatedly into her pokénav. "Archie, are you still there?"

" _I am, but I think it's all kicked off in the Rally hall,_ " Archie replied. " _I think I've wound up back at the entrance… I can't figure out these damn portpads._ "

"We have to find them and let them know that we have a huge problem," Key said, staring at the three tiny red stones in her hand. "Okay, you remember what happened when… incomplete Orbs were used to awaken Groudon and Kyogre?"

" _I know, I know, that was the stupidest thing that anyone has ever done and_ —"

"I think there's about to be some strong competition," Key interjected grimly. "I don't know how well that Red Chain is going to hold together without the actual Red Gems in them."

"What actually are those?" Ledah asked. "And what the hell is going on?"

"If we don't stop Team Galactic, the world's going to end," Key said flatly.

" _Again_?" Bacent asked. "We left Hoenn to get _away_ from that shit."

"Ledah, I'm gonna have to keep these," Key said, tucking the Red Gems into her inner jacket pocket. "They might help keep the world from ending."

"Didn't you say that when you stole that pokéball that I'd gone to a lot of work to steal in Lilycove?" Ledah said with a scowl.

"It was true then and it's true now," Key insisted. "Bacent, Circles, can you guys help me out? I've gotta find Cyrus."

"Circles, start scanning the security cameras," Bacent asked. Circles' head spasmed, but apparently it was a nod, because he vanished into the computer through a USB port and the screen starting scrolling through security feeds. It stopped on a hall full of large tubes of translucent green fluid and several cowering scientists in labcoats. Cyrus was just visible striding off of the edge of the screen with Saturn. Circles scrolled through a few more feeds until Cyrus and Saturn reappeared, stepping off of a portpad in a large hangar.

"Tell me how to get there," Key said immediately. "Can you change how the portpads link?"

"No, but I think I can find you a map," Bacent said, typing a command into the computer. "I'm doing this on faith that you're gonna stop the world ending so we can actually spend the money we're stealing here, got it?"

"We'll do our best," Terra promised.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 7:50 pm_ }

{ _Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

Saylee had been in a few melees in her time, but she'd never seen anyone cut through one quite so brutally as Caelin and Sally. By keeping close on their heels, she was able to make it onto the stage and climb onto the portpad that Cyrus and Saturn had vanished into.

The lab that they came out into was dark, with only the faint, eerie green glow of a number of huge incubation vats. The readouts next to all of them were dead, and so, presumably, were the twisted shapes within.

"What on earth were they doing here?" Caelin said, looking with disgust and sorrow at the dead _things_ suspended in fluid.

"Let's ask," Sally said, diving behind one of the vats with a snarl. Saylee and Caelin followed to see her cornering a stout, purple-haired older man in a labcoat.

"Sar Saylee of Kanto," Pluto said calmly. "And the Bloody Lady and One-Eyed Sal. My, I _am_ in the presence of legends."

"What the hell is all this?" Saylee demanded, waving a hand at the vats.

"Experiments," Pluto said with a shrug. "We never found out the exact cloning techniques used on Cinnabar Island, but I think we were getting quite close to passable imitations of the Lake Spirits—and, as such, an unlimited supply of Red Gems. Such a shame that the unit we dispatched to Orre failed to bring back any Shadow Pokémon technology. Can you believe that that poverty-stricken dump came up with such incredible god-controlling tech?"

"You mean you were attempting to clone evil gods?" Saylee said, glancing at the twisted forms in the vats. "Well, I'll just count myself lucky that you managed to fail epically in that department."

"Actually, some of these might have been viable," Pluto commented, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But, of course, once we had the real Red Gems, these ones became unnecessary."

"You killed them?" Caelin snarled. "Your own creations?!"

"They're of no use, so why keep them?" Pluto said with a slow grin. "But, most importantly, thanks to your willingness to stand here and listen to an old man ramble, there's no way you'll make it to the hangar in time to stop Cyrus taking off!"

"Then CEASE TALKING!" Caelin roared, leaping at Pluto with a fistful of fire. Saylee got a glimpse of a long, yellow tail flicking around Pluto before he vanished in a burst of pink energy.

"Teleport… he had an Abra hiding behind him! Dammit!" she hissed, running down the hall in search of the portpad that Cyrus and Saturn had vanished through.

"Here it is!" Sally called, darting past her. "I smell Cyrus on this one!" They were zapped through to a large hangar bay, where a huge zeppelin was taking off.

"Sar!" Caelin called, grabbing Saylee and picking her trainer up in her arms as Sally charged towards the zepplin's entry ladder, which was retracting into the ship. Sally leapt into the air, Caelin leapt from her back, and Saylee reached up and just barely managed to snag the bottom rung. Caelin tried to grab her ankle, but her hand just barely slipped its grip and she fell back to the ground.

Saylee managed to get out Caelin's pokéball and return the Infernape before she was pulled by the ladder into the zeppelin. _I can trust Sally to tell Blue and Key about the zeppelin,_ she thought, going to clip Caelin's pokéball to her belt before thinking better of it and slipping it up her sleeve. This turned out to be a good idea when, a second later, the door in front of her slid open and she was psychically lifted and slammed against the wall. Saturn came walking out of the cockpit with a Kadabra, its spoon raised to keep control of Saylee. _I wish I'd brought one of my Pokémon,_ she thought desperately and as hard as she could.

"She has none of her Pokémon," the Kadabra reported. Saturn nodded, smiling cruelly.

"Bring her in here," Cyrus ordered from the cockpit. Saturn turned and strode into the cockpit, and the Kadabra followed, psychically dragging Saylee with him. Saylee followed, continually thinking about how alone she was and about how all of her friends and Pokémon were back in Veilstone. She spotted Cyrus sitting in one of the pilots' seats, although the airship seemed to be running on autopilot.

"You have a lot of nerve to board this ship alone," Saturn sneered over his shoulder. "We ought to just kill you now!"

"So why haven't you?" Saylee asked. "Humour me, I'm curious."

"Sar Saylee of Kanto," Cyrus said, looking out the front of the airship instead of at her as he spoke. "You interfered in our search for the final product of the Mew Two project, which resulted in the creature being alerted and impossible to track or capture. Why?"

"Oh no, you guys screwed that up good and proper without my help," Saylee said, watching the looming shape of Mt Coronet out of the windscreen of the cockpit. "Your boy Mercury roused the ghosts of Lavender Tower by threatening Mr Fuji. If Mewtwo hadn't gotten him, the ghosts would have, or the grave guardians. They know how many bones every creature alive has and how to break every one so it won't heal. Frankly, he probably got off lightly by being killed instantly."

"So why were _you_ there?" Saturn demanded.

Saylee shrugged. "Professor Hawkshaw," she said simply. "Her dead Girafarig's tail was alive long enough to impart its memories of her killers. Mostly figures dressed in grey with green hair?"

"Why do you care about that?" Saturn objected. "That happened in Johto. Your jurisdiction is _Kanto_ , isn't it?"

"Yeah, so I do happen to care when a group of people who may well have committed a vicious murder are running wild in _my_ country, thank you," Saylee snapped. "Why did you kill her?"

"You know why," the Kadabra said. "Her research."

"Her theories on the formation of our reality have been very useful," Cyrus said with what almost sounded like genuine appreciation. "I would not have been able to form my final plan without her. I would much rather have done it _with_ her, but according to Jupiter, she was… unenthusiastic about our cause, and therefore unnecessary. So, naturally, Jupiter terminated her."

" _Naturally?_ " Saylee snapped angrily. "You think it was—"

"Someone else is listening in!" the Kadabra snapped, dropping Saylee and slamming the door open. The psychic was knocked back with a scream as a squat blue-and-black Pokémon attacked him, sinking its fangs into his neck.

"Donna, no killing," Officer Looker ordered, striding into the deck and swinging the length of lead pipe he was holding to pin Cyrus to the console as soon as he stood up. Saylee dodged Saturn's attempt to grab her and kicked as hard as she could, hitting the side of his knee with a satisfying _crunch_. Saturn collapsed with a scream, then released his Toxicroak. Saylee dove away as it lunged at her.

"Donna, the Toxicroak! Dragonbreath!" Looker barked, not taking his steely glare off of Cyrus. "Cyrus Akagi, you are under arrest for—AGH!"

Saturn's Toxicroak had dodged most of Donna's breath of blue fire, causing the rest to melt through the window. The zeppelin was hardly going at high speed, but they were buffeted by a vicious blast of icy wind and snow. Saylee scrambled to her feet and leaned over the console to peer out of the melted window at the snowy slopes of Mt Coronet below.

Not all of them were snowy. Near the peak was a surprising amount of bare stone, given how heavily it was snowing. _I don't see… wait, there_! Saylee thought as something _flashed_ inside a cave mouth. She flung Caelin's pokéball out of the window as hard as she could, gratified to see a flash of red down in the snow. _Go get 'em… your majesty._

"What the hell did you just do?" Saturn snarled, spinning her around and pinning her to the semi-melted console by her throat. Saylee gasped as pain flashed down her throat and kicked out, hitting Saturn square in the balls and once again feeling a very satisfying _crunch_ under her heel. Saturn screamed again—much more high-pitched this time—and let go of her, allowing her room to slam the heel of her hand into his nose repeatedly until the Galactic commander fell unconscious.

Donna had finally clawed and Dragonbreathed the Toxicroak to the ground, and was chewing on both it and the unconscious Kadabra. Most of her face was hidden under her shaggy black fur, aside from her blue snout, but she seemed to be grinning. Officer Looker and Cyrus were both struggling over the lead pipe, neither able to take a hand away to release another Pokémon in case the other whacked them in the face with the length of lead.

Saylee looked out of the window again. They were _very_ close to Mt Coronet now. Very, very, _very_ close.

She tried to call out to Looker, but her throat filled with fire when she tried to speak. She grabbed him by his trenchcoat and dragged him under the console just as the zeppelin crashed into the mountainside.

{}

{}

 _I leave the UK for nine bloody days and it all goes to shit… I am, to put it lightly, not best pleased with the result, but I'm very proud of Scotland for voting Remain, and if Nichola Sturgeon does get her second referendum (which is suddenly much more viable than I would ever expect it to be barely two years after the last one) I'm ready to vote Yes again. (Also cringing at all the news coverage in the US referring to it as "England's EU referendum", but… that was basically what it was, wasn't it?)_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Rory the Lucario, Amy the Aggron, Donna the Deino, Ace the Azumarill, Canton the Croagunk, Clara the Croagunk_


	43. Chapter 42

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 4_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 8:20 pm}_

 _{Mt Coronet}_

To Caelin, being put in a pokéball was like a sneeze. There was a whole-body jerk, her vision blacked out for what seemed to be only a blink, and then she was somewhere else. For a brief moment, the world was in slow-motion, giving her time to take in what was happening and where she was.

This time, she was in midair, falling amidst snow and darkness.

She rolled when she hit the ground, finding herself not in a snowdrift but on warm, bare, _familiar_ stone. She turned and stared in wonder at the white vista laid out before her. She could see the shadow of coronet blocking the light of sunset painting eastern Sinnoh from where she stood. It was a glorious sight, even blanketed under snow, and she had seen it every day of her life before leaving in search of Prince.

"We are home," she whispered, looking up and seeing the huge, dark shape of the airship disappear into the darkness above. _I am alone… and so is Sar Kanto._

Her expression set into a scowl as she turned to head for the highest cave, standing straight and tall and ignoring the snowflakes sizzling on her skin and in her crown flame as she ascended the cold rocks.

"INDRA!" she bellowed into the mouth of a huge, dark cave, ignoring the Prinplup and Monferno guards standing outside. One, she realized, was her elder sister Maisie. "Maze," she said softly, greeting her by the childish nickname that the youngest princess had once called her closest sister by, waiting for the light of recognition in Maisie's eyes before formally stating, "Tell Fire Lord Indra that Princess Caelin is here to take her throne."

"Fetch the Fire Lord!" Maisie ordered another Monferno, who bowed and scampered off into the cave. "Linnie… how did you come to be an Infernape?" she asked, stepping closer to Caelin. "What on earth is going on? Where is Prince?"

"We found him, but he is busy now, as are we," Caelin said shortly. "We disagree with our brother's policy of non-involvement. If we do not fight now, all will be lost. We will defeat Indra and take the throne quickly. There is much to be done."

"Linny, our brother has been training," Maisie said, urgently, gesturing to Caelin's face and the blood patterns painted on it. "We have heard the rumours about you. The Bloody Lady. Indra was worried you were coming for his throne. He has been training hard." She looked Caelin up and down. "He is bigger than you. I know he is."

"That is no problem," Caelin assured her. Maisie looked sceptical, but there was no further time for conversation. The cave was lighting up as Indra strode out.

Most Infernape were barely four feet tall when they evolved, but the genes of the royal line were stronger. Caelin had been as tall as Sar Kanto when first she'd evolved, and with training had grown to nearly six feet, but Indra was more than seven and towered over her with a regal scowl.

"Caelin," he said, sounding surprised. "You have evolved. We congratulate you, and understand that you bring to us a challenge?"

"Indeed," Caelin said, pressing her right fist to her left palm in front of her. The Prinplup covered their ears just before Caelin unleashed the call of challenge, drawing the loudest, most feral screech she could muster from the core of her soul. She drew her hands apart, curling her hands into claws as she screeched in one long, unbroken noise of challenge.

Indra did not flinch and did not back down. He simply began circling her. Caelin's challenge scream continued as they circled each other, slowly moving out of the cave and onto the mountainside. They stopped circling when they were completely out among the snow and stone. As was his right, Indra was further up the slope, looking down on her.

 _That will soon change._

Caelin's screech, resounding through the caves and around the mountainside, sending Pokémon running or drawing them in to watch the crown fight, finally wound down to a soft snarl. Caelin faced her elder brother, teeth bared and claws raised.

Indra responded by baring his teeth, accepting her challenge, and leapt.

He started out with a fairly obvious but powerful swing at her head. Caelin ducked and rolled under him, kicking up as she did. Indra yelped.

"Caelin!" Maisie screamed. "That is _not_ an honourable way to fight!"

"We have no time for _honourable_ ," Caelin snarled, slashing at Indra's leg as she rolled past, "and our enemies do not fight with honour. We have learned to do the same."

"The enemies you intend to lead the clan to fight?" Indra snarled, recovering magnificently and swinging a leg around to knock Caelin's out from under her. She did a backwards somersault and came back up into a crouch, watching Indra and waiting for him to strike. "We will not let you lead our people to their deaths for the sake of human battles!"

"Our people will not be the ones to die," Caelin snapped, ducking and dodging as he punched at her. She spun under one blow, landing a powerful punch on his midsection and using the force of the punch to backflip herself out of his reach. "We do not expect them to die for us. We expect our _enemies_ to be the ones to do that. But if they do not die, then we will, and so will all else that lives in this land!" She leapt into the air as Indra kicked at her and landed on his head. She crouched on one foot and brought the other leg around to kick him hard in the back of the head, leaping away again as he was slammed into the rock of Mt Coronet.

There was a good deal of shocked yelps and muttering as the Pokémon of Mt Coronet watched their Fire Lord being ground into the dirt.

"Yield, Indra!" Caelin snarled, giving him no time to get back to his feet but stomping repeatedly on his shoulder, feeling the bones of his arm splinter and crack under her feet. "Yield the throne to Fire Lord Caelin! Yield Mt Coronet to one who will defend it! YIELD!"

"I… will… not… yield!" Indra spat, scratching at her leg, tearing open the back of her calf. The wound was agonizing, but Caelin ignored the pain. She kicked his claw away and kicked him in the face so hard that he spat out broken teeth. "I am a warrior… I will not… _yield_ …" He spat blood at her. "You will have to _kill_ me, Bloody Lady!"

While a challenge did not necessarily have to end in a death, fatalities were the norm throughout her clan's history, Caelin knew. She knew that Indra would kill her if he could, not out of malice, but simply because that was a simple and acceptable way to end a challenge. She knew that his spirit would bear her no ill will for killing him for these exact reasons. She could choose to kill him now, and none of her subjects would question her decision.

But it was the _decision_ that staggered her. She'd never before been in a life-or-death match where she had enough of an upper hand to think clearly, where she wasn't fighting through a thoughtless haze of rage and fear, directed only by split-second instincts and her tactician's directions. She almost wished that Indra had been quicker, that she'd been able to kill him in a moment of desperation, rather than having the chance to _think_ about it.

" _No matter what your reasons or justifications, you will not feel justified forever. And once the regret hits, you cannot undo what you regret."_

She'd dismissed the Alakazam's words, but they continued to return to her, and though she would not admit it aloud, she knew that they rang true. She knew that to kill Indra would be a change in her, as powerful and irreversible as evolution, and as she felt the gaping chasm of that precipice before her, she knew that she could not step over it. Not yet.

For somebody who had killed her friends and comrades, perhaps. Not for somebody who'd taught her to throw a punch when she was too little to be a threat to anybody.

"I will not," Caelin said firmly. Indra sneered. "If I kill you, how are you to know that you have lost?" Indra's sneer faded as she grabbed his shattered arm, kicked and _yanked_.

Indra screamed in agony as his arm was torn from his shoulder.

"However," Caelin said, stepping away, carrying her prize, "there will be no rebuttal challenges from you. We have no time for that now." She walked up the slope until she was standing above all watching, then turned, raising Indra's arm over her head. She spotted her eldest sister, Iona, an Infernape like herself and thus the only one who could challenge Caelin now. Iona walked up to Indra, every Pokémon on the mountain watching her tensely.

"Crush this on your wound, brother," Iona said, tossing some berries down on him. There was a collective hitch of breath as she did not address him as "your majesty". Then she walked up to Caelin…

…and knelt.

There was almost a ripple as the watching Pokémon—mostly Chimchar and Monferno, but also a small number of Piplup and Prinplup, Turtwig and Grotle, and the other Pokémon that lived across the mountain, the Machoke and Graveler and Bronzor and Medicham, the Clefable and Absol and Nosepass and Abomasnow—all knelt, or bowed their heads, or glowed in patterns of respect. All of them, in their own way, paid tribute to their new Fire Lord.

The wind picked up, bringing with it the sound of a _crash_ that shook the ground under their feet and sent a blast of wind down the mountain. Caelin tossed Indra's arm into the wind, watching the bloody orange limb get blown down the mountain, before turning to her subjects.

"Humans are approaching this mountain!" she howled at them. "Humans who have stolen and murdered across the continent! Humans who have already murdered our faithful friends and retinue! Humans whose plans threaten the gods themselves, and the lives of every human and Pokémon in Sinnoh! But these humans have made a terrible mistake! These humans have come to _our land_ to carry out their evil deeds! They have chosen _our_ sacred Coronet as the site for their plans! They _do not have our leave to be here_ , and if they do not walk away then _they will leave as the ash that wafts on their funeral pyres_!"

A feral roar rose from the crowd. Monferno, in particular, were very hot-blooded, and easily fired up by the prospect of battle, but just about every species on Mt Coronet was getting caught up in the shared rage, from the most aggressive Machoke to the kindest Clefairy.

"By trespassing on _our_ lands and taking up arms against free Pokemon, they have broken ancient laws!" Caelin bellowed over the roars. "And so, by ancient laws, with claws and fangs, we will exact a toll! Not because we wish it, but because _it must be done,_ to guard ourselves!"

"It's true," an Absol called, padding up to Caelin. She recognized the old Absol's long grey coat and the crescent-moon scar across her right side; she was Ailsa, the leader of the Absol pack of Mt Coronet and a powerful soothsayer whose advice, fortunes and visions were never, ever, _ever_ wrong. "The gods themselves will be summoned to the summit here. What happens then… I cannot see." She looked significantly at the peak.

"Does that mean we'll win or lose?" a Prinplup asked.

"If I cannot see an outcome, then the chances of winning and losing are equal," Ailsa declared.

Caelin shook her head. "If we _can_ win, then we _will_ ," she said with certainty. "Should you see humans clad in grey with green manes, _show no mercy, for you will receive none_!" A proud battle roar rose from the assembled Pokémon. "If you see humans with brown hair, or black, or yellow, bring them to us, for they may be our allies-if they are fighting those with green hair, you can be assured of it. But should you see a female with bright red hair, or deep purple… leave them. We have claimed every drop of blood in their veins, and with it we will paint the snow! They will _bleed_ for every life they have taken, _and they will take no more_!"

"Caelin! Caelin! CAELIN!" the army— _her_ army—chanted. More warriors were coming running out of the caverns, while the littlest Chimchar were being ushered back inside, where it was safe. _Where they will never be in danger,_ Caelin vowed. _I swear it._

"Maze, open up the core caves to everybody's young and infirm," she said quietly. "This battle will not be contained."

Maisie nodded. "Yes, your majesty," she said, running off.

Caelin looked over her army, raising her arm and grinning as they were all immediately held in rapt attention. "WE WILL DEFEND THE PEAK!" she bellowed, turning and charging towards the peak of Mt Coronet. There was a plateau up there with shattered stone columns, though whether they were built by humans or something else nobody could remember, and it was there, Caelin was sure, that Galactic would carry out their plans.

 _And as such,_ she thought with a grin, hearing and smelling the surge of the army following her up the mountain, _that is where Sar will be found, most likely in the way…_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 8:20 pm_ }

{ _Galactic HQ, Veilstone City}_

"Well, this is creepy as fuck," Blue opined as he stepped through the teleporter and came out in a hall full of faintly glowing green vats. Lance and their Pokémon, along with most of Saylee's, followed, having finally dispatched the horde of Galactic goons that had been left behind. "Saylee? SAYLEE?"

"Blue!" Sally shouted, darting between the vats towards them.

"Okay, almost," Blue muttered. "Where's your trainer?"

"Sal!" Zoe called, fluttering over. "What's going on? Where's the Princess?"

"She and Sar just managed to follow Saturn and Cyrus onto a zeppelin that took off," Sally reported. "I don't know where they're going…"

"I do," Lance said, releasing Damien, his biggest, oldest Dragonite, notable for the Charizard-claw scars running down his side and the way he smashed a hole in the ceiling just by standing up. "The peak of Mt Coronet. Damien… make us an exit," Lance ordered, swinging onto his Dragonite's back.

"HOLD IT!" Blue yelled as the Dragonite blasted through the ceiling and flew off. "Oooooor not. I can't stand that guy." His pokétch suddenly started ringing. "What?" he asked, stabbing the answer button.

" _Hey, you're back,_ " Archie said.

"Didn't notice that the call had dropped," Blue admitted. "Anybody got Saylee on the line?"

" _No, she's still dropped,_ " Key said. " _What the hell just flew through the roof?_ "

"That was Lance," Blue explained, "and it sounds like Saylee and Caelin alone on an airship with Saturn and Cyrus… maybe Looker, I don't know, that asshole vanished ages ago. Where are you guys?"

" _Front entrance,_ " Archie said. " _Never seen a grown man cry as hard as Detective Hawkshaw… well, can't blame him. Hostages are out safe, and the police are starting to storm the building and drag out all the unconscious Galactics we left behind. We've, uh… we've drawn a lot of notice._ "

" _I think I'm in the hangar,_ " Key reported. " _I have the three stones that were taken from Barry, Dawn and Lucas. I'm going to take them back to them, then head up Mt Coronet. Lee's gonna need backup._ "

"Which is why we're going up there _now_ ," Blue snapped, looking around his and Saylee's Pokémon. "I don't know how, but we're getting up there."

" _I think I can help you there,"_ a new voice said. " _I've been waiting for a chance to nail Galactic for_ months _, and there's no time like the present._ "

"Who the hell is that?" Blue demanded.

" _It's Sar Cynthia of Celestic,_ " the Champion introduced herself. " _Sorry I turned up late to the party, but I know the way to the next venue._ "

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 8:40 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

The roaring kaleidoscope slowly resolved itself into cold and snow. Saylee lay there for a long moment, staring vaguely at the flakes spiralling towards her out of the darkness. She slowly became aware of a voice calling out to her.

"…" she croaked, her attempt to reply cut off by the sharp pain in her own throat. _Proton nearly crushed my throat_ , she remembered. _No, wait… too long ago. Same shit, different psychopath… I think…? What happened_? _I wake up like this_ way _too often…_

"…ee? Sar Saylee? Can you hear me? Please respond!" a voice called as the ringing in her ears died down. She became vaguely aware of someone patting her down, not searching but checking.

 _Did I break anything?_ She wondered, giving her arms and legs a few experimental twitches. Her whole body was aching, but everything seemed to work alright. The snowflakes drifting into her direct vision indicated that she could see, and that the darkness was simply due to it being dark out. She could feel the frames of her glasses freezing on her face but didn't want to pull them off and leave herself blinded. An arm wrapped under her shoulders and helped her sit up as a light danced across the snow.

"Are you hurting, Sar Saylee?" Looker asked, holding up a small lamp so they could look at each other. Blood was smeared over his face, although she couldn't see any injuries, so she wasn't sure whose blood it was. "Please speak. I must know you are not concussed."

Saylee shook her head, wincing at the feeling of her brain banging off of the insides of her skull. She patted her throat gingerly, then winced and spat blood into the snow.

"Ah, yes, Saturn tried to choke you, did he not?" Looker said, helping her to her feet. "You have my thanks for removing me to safety when the crash was imminent. Do you feel anything broken?" Saylee slowly shook her head. It still hurt like hell. "Myself, some ribs have perhaps been better, but I have had worse. We must go in search of Saturn and Cyrus. This will be easy with the trail that they have left, no?" He held up his lamp to throw light on a deep trail that had been ploughed in the snow and splattered with blood, leading away from the wreck of the airship and up the mountain. "I think we are very near the peak now. Can you move?" She nodded, taking a few steps. "Good! Amy is clearing us a safe path now, yes?"

"I'd carry you, but, y'know, cold metal shell," an Aggron said as she trudged past. Her steel shell was indeed covered with a white layer of frost, and Saylee knew that if she touched the steel-type, she'd leave some skin behind.

"We'd better hurry," a Lucario said, darting into her line of vision and glancing down the mountain. "A _lot_ more people and Pokémon are coming up the mountain in different directions…." He winced and flattened his ears a few seconds before the roar floated up on the wind. It was the howl of hundreds of angry Pokémon, and overlaying it all, Saylee recognized the furious and familiar bellow of an Infernape.

 _Sounds like backup_ , she thought, but when she tried to say it, all she could do was cough more blood into the snow. She trusted that the grin on her face said it all for her.

{}

{}

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Rory the Lucario, Amy the Aggron, Donna the Deino, Ace the Azumarill, Canton the Croagunk, Clara the Croagunk_


	44. Chapter 43

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 9:30 pm}_

 _{Canalave City}_

"Are you sure this will work?" Dr Hikari asked nervously, closing the door to her children's room while her husband distracted the nurse outside by pestering her with questions.

"It's certainly worth trying," Professor Rowan said firmly, following Key over to the bed where Dawn lay, pale and breathing slowly. "Do you know which one is which?"

"No," Key admitted, holding the stones out and squinting at them. She couldn't see any difference between the three, and couldn't tell if any of them were having any effect on Dawn. "Lee would probably know. Michael, what do you think?"

The redhead took the three stones out of her hand, looking them over thoughtfully before holding them close to Dawn one at a time. "This one," he decided, handing the other two back to Key. "It… likes her, kinda. It's hard to explain."

"I'm getting that," Key sighed. "What do we do, just… put it back in her forehead?"

"Why not?" Michael said, peeling back the bandage over the cut on Dawn's forehead and pressing the stone to the wound. He jerked backwards as a pulse of red light flashed down Dawn's body.

"Dawn!" Dr Hikari cried, running over to her daughter. "Dawn… can you hear me? Dawn!"

"M… Mom?" Dawn muttered, rubbing her eyes. Dr Hikari immediately burst into tears and hugged her daughter. "Mom! I'm okay!" Dawn gasped, turning her head, her eyelids flickering but not actually opening. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"Success," Michael said with a grin, fistbumping Key. "I'll wake up Lucas and Barry and keep an eye on 'em. Get going to Mt Coronet."

"Thanks," Key said in relief.

"I'm coming with you," Professor Rowan said firmly. "Whatever Galactic are doing, they're using _my_ research for it. I might be able to help somehow…" He pulled back his coat, showing the pokéballs on his belt. "By fighting, if nothing else!"

"That always helps," Key agreed, giving Dawn and Lucas' father a thumbs-up as she and Professor Rowan ran past. It was nice to see the man's face light up like the rising sun. _But his reunion with his kids won't last if we don't stop Galactic at Mt Coronet,_ she thought nervously. _Please let us get there in time…_

"We're supposed to meet Byron on the eastern road," Key told Professor Rowan. "What's the fastest way there?"

"This way," Rowan said, turning down a side alley that was nearly pitch-black. "It's a bit of a maze along the dockside, but it'll get us there faster than trying to get through all the people on the main streets."

Key nodded and followed, her eyes drawn upwards to every gap between the buildings. Mt Coronet towered over everything, the dark bulk of it visible by the way it blocked out the stars, and there were people on it who wanted to make sure that nobody below saw sunrise again—or appreciated it, at least. Key wondered if it was better or worse that Galactic didn't want to _kill_ everybody, just take the life out of them.

Byron was fairly easy to fire, even though he was some way off the main path and hidden among the trees. He and Johanna having a blazing row with Silver— _literally_. Puffs of purple fire kept flashing in the air every time Silver shouted, and standing behind the kid were three huge, powerful creatures that Key had never seen before. In form they reminded her of Mightyena, although the tallest, when visible in the flashes of purple light, was covered in thick, shaggy dark fur, with a long light mane, some kind of crest on its face that may or may not have part of its moustache, and spikes on its back; the smallest (which was still taller than anyone except Byron) was light-coloured with black stripes, a long curly mane, long fangs and a different crest on its face; and the middle one was pale with a light, flowing mane, two translucent tresses that flowed like water, and the biggest crest of all of them in the middle of its forehead.

"Ye gods," Rowan said, stopping dead. "Entei, Raikou and Suicune!"

"I can more than protect myself, Ron!" Silver snapped angrily, gesturing to the three. "I'm not some helpless little kid!"

"I'm not saying you are helpless," Byron argued. "But you _are_ a kid, and Galactic haven't shown any hesitation in hurting kids before, gods or not! You think Jo or I want you in harm's way? You think Saylee wants you up there, in danger?"

"You think _I_ want to just sit back and let her be in danger all by herself?!" Silver argued. "You think I want _you_ in harm's way? Why are you being so _stupid_? You think how _I_ feel doesn't matter because I'm a kid?!"

"He has a point," Key opined. Byron glowered at her.

"Silver, that's not it at all," Johanna interjected. "I don't want any of you in danger—not you, not Saylee, not Byron. But the difference between them and you _isn't just that you're a kid,_ " she added sharply when Silver opened his mouth. He shut it again. "You are Ho-oh, and that's amazing and I think you're absolutely the right person for it, but you need to take responsibility for that power. Galactic have been using the power of gods for… whatever they're planning to do. Don't take more of that power _to_ them!"

"The Red Chain that Cyrus has made is for controlling gods," Key added into the ringing silence. "I mean, I think he's trying to use it to control Dialga and Palkia, but it would probably work on you too."

"…If that's true, it's imperative that you remain _away_ from Mt Coronet," Rowan said gruffly. "Listen to your parents, young man."

The relatively small one licked Silver's cheek. The boy exchanged glances with all three of the huge Pokémon, then sighed. "Fine," he muttered.

"I mean it," Johanna said firmly, stepping around him so he had to look her in the eye. "You're not sneaking off to go running up that mountain later, do you understand?" Silver winced, but nodded sullenly.

"Don't worry, kid, we'll bust Galactic's hump and be down in no time," Byron promised, releasing his huge and hulking Steelix. "The other leaders should be on their way up already. Oystein, let's get into the Underground! We'll hit Mt Coronet from the inside!"

"I'm a gym leader too," Silver muttered. Johanna put an arm firmly around his shoulder and smiled over his head at Key and Professor Rowan.

"Good luck," she said. "And be careful, alright?"

"As much as possible," Key promised, stepping back as Oystein reared up and then drilled into the ground. Byron gave his wife a kiss, Silver a hair-ruffle, and jumped into the Underground.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 9:50pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

"Riley, we're being tracked," Luke said, pausing and perking up his ears. Riley nodded, sensing what his Lucario was sensing. Whatever was tracking them was unsettlingly close; Luke's brush with death at Jupiter's hands had thrown both of them for a loop and dulled their senses. Mt Coronet was unusually devoid of life, which should have made sensing the approaching life signs easier.

"Who's there?" Riley called, wondering if he shouldn't have brought some of the Pokémon from Iron Island with him instead of just asking them to keep watch of his home and the crystal. Luke started charging up an Aura Sphere.

"Hold!" another Lucario called, darting out of the trees, paws raised. In his wake ran Maylene, Candice and her Abomasnow.

"Hey!" Candice yelled. "You two are supposed to be in hospital! What're you playing at?"

"We're fine," Riley insisted. "Luke's made a full recovery and so have I. And we have to reach the peak of Mt Coronet as soon as possible because—"

"We know about Galactic," Maylene interjected. "Cynthia called all of the leaders."

"We're not just here looking for you," Candice added snippily. "Actually, we're not here looking for you at all. But you really, really need to go back to hospital. You nearly _died_."

"No, Luke nearly died and I simply echoed it," Riley explained, as if that made it better.

"And I am fully recovered," Luke insisted. Maylene's Lucario stared hard at him, but made no comment.

Maylene, simultaneously, was closely regarding Riley. "Candy, we can't have enough backup up here," she said, "and we don't have time to waste dragging him back to the hospital."

They all shuddered as a tremendous chorus of howling rose up. "What _is_ that?" Maylene muttered, looking around nervously.

"That was all of the Pokémon who live on Mt Coronet," her Abomasnow said, narrowing her eyes. "I wondered why we hadn't seen anybody on our way up here. They must've all gathered for a council of war..."

"About Galactic, do you think?" Candice asked. "Cynthia said they were heading for the peak…"

"That's sacred ground," her Abomasnow said darkly, putting a huge, leafy hand on her trainer's shoulder. "We must be careful. They may not distinguish between Galactic and other humans, especially if we go to the peak without the Fire Lord's permission. If we run into any wild Pokémon, let me do the talking, okay?"

"You heard Sequoia," Candice said, patting her Abomasnow's arm. "Mouths shut and c'mon, then, if you're coming."

"You're not going anywhere, I'm afraid."

"Who the hell are you?" Maylene demanded as a redheaded woman in a grey dress skipped through the trees towards them.

"I'm Mars," the redhead said, curtseying with a smile, "and I'm here to stop anybody from interfering with Cyrus' grand plan!"

"One of you against three of us?" Candice said with a grin. "Yeah, _that's_ gonna last long."

"Dammit… why didn't I sense her coming?" Luke muttered.

"The mountain has an odd aura that affects all of us," Maylene's Lucario assured him.

"I don't like this," Riley said, scowling at Mars. "Why is she still smiling?"

"Oh, don't be silly! Of course I'm not here _alone_!" Mars giggled. "Where would the fun in that be? Come and play, everybody!"

Then dozens of Galactic members were swarming towards them through the trees.

"The mountain _really_ messes with our senses," Maylene's Lucario said hoarsely as his trainer and Candice released the rest of their Pokémon and prepared to fight.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 9:50 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

 _You are_ not _calling Roark for backup,_ Gardenia told herself repeatedly in her head as she climbed up the weirdly quiet west face of Mt Coronet with the aid of Chloe, her Carnivine. _He's_ fourteen _. You are an_ adult _. You are a grown-ass woman, and a gym leader, and a couple of foreign women took a lot of damage and lost a lot of Pokémon because you kept wimping out of your job and—_ "SON OF A—!" she yelped in shock as two figures appeared on the ridge in front of her. "What the—who are you?!"

"We're not Galactic," the younger girl, the teenager with short blue hair, said as she raised her hands defensively.

"That isn't a suspiciously specific denial," the slightly older woman with very straight black hair added. "That was your first thought, right? Sabrina, we've talked about this…"

"A large number of Galactic members _are_ coming this way specifically to stop the Eterna and Oreburgh leaders from getting in the way," Sabrina said, pointing up the mountainside. "We'll have to go through them to get to the peak and stop Cyrus."

"Who actually _are_ you people?" Chloe asked, her tendrils flaring protectively in front of her trainer.

"Oh, what a beautiful Carnivine!" the older woman gasped, reaching out a hand to Chloe absentmindedly. "I'm Erika Celadon, from Kanto. I train grass-types, too. Oh, you really do have beautiful tresses…"

"I like her," Chloe said immediately, grinning.

"And I'm Sabrina," the teenager added, "also from Kanto. We'd very much like to stop Galactic as quickly as possible, so we came to offer our assistance." She released a pair of Alakazam as grey-clad figures began to appear from the cliffs above.

"Well, I'm not complaining," Gardenia said, releasing the rest of her Pokémon and taking a deep breath to steel herself. _There are a_ lot _of them…_ She watched as Erika and Sabrina squaring themselves up to fight, both of them probably younger than her, another pair of young foreign woman here to do her job for her. _Well, at least this time I'll be actually_ at _the fight…_ "C'mon, girls! Let's take Galactic down!"

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 9:50 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

"What the hell is that?" Blue asked, looking to Gary to see if the Arcanine recognized the tremendous howling that seemed to emanate from the mountain itself.

"That's a war rally," Prince commented. "Either Fire Lord Indra finally decided to fight against Galactic… or Caelin defeated him and she's Fire Lord now."

"I thought the only contender for Indra's throne was his sister Iona," Cynthia said in surprise.

"How do you know that?" Archie asked, clinging to Pegasus' back as the Rapidash negotiated a near-vertical cliff face, followed by Gary and Cynthia's Garchomp Greta, both carrying their trainers as well.

"I'm the Champion," Cynthia said, rolling her eyes. "I need to keep tabs on the Pokémon as well as the humans. That means knowing the latest political gossip around the Fire Lord, Water Lord and Grass Lord."

"I think Caelin's the one they call the Bloody Lady," Greta interjected. "A Fire princess who's come up against Galactic several times and seeks vengeance for her dead followers."

"Yep, that's Caelin," Blue agreed. "Saylee's been training her. I think they ran foul of Cyrus on their first day working together and it's all been downhill from there as far as their relationship with Galactic's been concerned. Y'know, this shit happens to Saylee _way_ more than is healthy for anybody."

"I've noticed," Archie muttered. "Still, if that's a war rally, that means we've got the backup of the mountain Pokémon in fighting Galactic, right?"

"Maybe, but wild Pokémon can't always tell humans apart," Cynthia warned. "They might attack us too, especially if we step into any of their sacred grounds without invitation. I think I know where most of them are, but…"

"I know them all," Prince assured her. "And I know many of the mountain Pokémon from the times I visited here. We're not far from the peak now, in fact, but if we get too close without a direct invitation from the Fire Lord…" Gary suddenly stopped, growling. "What's wrong?"

"You'll go no closer," said a cold voice that sent a hot spark of rage through Blue. Gary's growling intensified, joined by an angry whinny from Pegasus and an affronted squawk from Prince as they looked up to see Jupiter watching them from the next outcrop.

"You!" Star snarled ferally. "You owe my sister an eye!"

"Speaking of vengeance," Blue snarled, releasing the rest of his Pokémon. "Give up now and make life easy on yourself, Jupiter."

"Or death," Adam suggested. "We offer that as well."

"No we don't," Cynthia said quickly, releasing her team. The Togekiss, Roserade, Milotic and Lucario were an intimidating sight alongside Cynthia's Garchomp. Blue and Archie both recoiled sharply as Cynthia also released a cackling Spiritomb.

The Lucario glanced over in surprise at Rashad, who happily yelped, "Mom!" He pointed up at Jupiter, his grin turning to a scowl. "She's the one who hurt Dad and murdered my brother Roar. We have to take her out!"

Cynthia's Lucario growled fiercely. "So, you thought you could take my son from me before I could ever meet him and get away with it?" she said, charging up and firing and Aura Sphere. Jupiter threw herself backwards and out of sight to evade it.

"Keep cool, Lewi!" Cynthia ordered as they swarmed over the outcrop after Jupiter.

And right into about fifty waiting Galactic grunts.

"Classic," Archie muttered, releasing Warin and Basil. "Prince, what happens if we fight here?"

"I rather suspect that we _end_ them all," Prince said as the Galactic horde started releasing Pokémon. Each had at least two or three. "…That might take us some time, however."

"Same old, same old," Sam said dismissively, cranking out her cannons and blasting aside the first two Purugly to take a chance and attack. That kicked off the melee. Blue, Archie and Cynthia dove off of the backs of their Pokémon, taking up an unsettling but undeniably safe spot behind Cynthia's Spiritomb while their Pokémon dove into the fray. Blue focused on keeping an eye on and dispensing directions to Eira and Girish, knowing that he could trust Adam, Gary and Sam to handle themselves and that Rashad didn't need to hear him speak to know what he wanted the Lucario to do. Cynthia rarely had to say a word, aside from muttering some kind of prayer to keep her Spiritomb's attacks directed at Galactic only. The Champion's Pokémon definitely deserved their titles; they worked as a flawless and devastating team, carving through Galactic Pokemon and humans alike brutally but nonlethally.

Archie had to give his Pokémon the most direction, and almost all of it was to do with Star. "Warin, take out that Skuntank before it gets Star!" he shouted. "Star, stop charging off alone! STAR!" The Luxray ignored him, her glare focused solely on Jupiter, who was sitting behind a wall of her grunts with an unpleasant smile smile.

"She's gonna get herself killed if she keeps blindly heading for Jupiter like that," Blue muttered. "Adam!"

The Alakazam nodded, and in an eyeblink vanished, reappeared next to Star, and vanished them both. This did not go unnoticed by Jupiter, who released her huge Skuntank and shouted, "NIGHT SLASH!"

"ADAM!" Blue shouted as his Alakazam was hit just as he and Star appeared. Star immediately dove at the Skuntank, biting down on it with repeated Thunder Fangs while it slashed back at her with pitch-black claws. Adam vanished and reappeared next to Blue, slumping and clutching a black, oozing set of claw marks across his thin chest. "I got it," Blue said quickly, grabbing a Hyper Potion out of his back and tending to Adam's wound.

"But now Star's up there alone!" Archie yelled, trying to step past the Spiritomb.

Cynthia grabbed his arm. "No she's not," she said, pointing to the ridge beyond Jupiter.

A mixture of Abomasnow, Machoke and Medicham were up there, and at the lead of them was a tall, snarling Infernape with her white fur grown out like a cape and a preserved blue rose on a band over her left ear. She pointed at the melee, and the wild Pokémon charged towards it, attacking the Galactic grunts and any Pokémon that tried to defend them, while Caelin herself leapt towards Jupiter.

"I remember you," Jupiter said calmly, releasing a Bronzong. "From the Lake. You're the angry little creature that they call the Bloody Lady."

"And do you know _why_ they call us that?" Caelin growled, dodging a Psybeam from the Bronzong.

"Do tell," Jupiter said with a smirk.

"It is because, every morning, we paint our face with blood in memory of those who died in our name," Caelin declared, cracking her knuckles.

"I don't see any blood on your face right now," Jupiter said sceptically.

"It needn't always be _our_ blood," Caelin snarled, and leapt.

{}

{}

 _Sorry this is a day late, I've been no very well and sitting upright at a computer's been a bit beyond me._

 _I am way too entertained by how often I now run into people that I knew in Primary School or High School and haven't seen in years. The fact that there are Dratini in our local loch is more effective than any school reunion. Also, I am way too in love with the fact that there are Dratini in our loch. And Jynx right next to the sign explaining how the loch was formed in the wake of a glacier. That's just funny XD #TeamMystic_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Princess Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	45. Chapter 44

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:17 pm}_

 _{Mt Coronet}_

Saylee pulled out her jar of fire not long after they started walking, a protection for her and Looker against the pervasive cold of Mt Coronet as well as a bit more light for their path. The snowfall wasn't heavy, but the cold was piercing and the air was thin. It wasn't just unsettling her physically—the environment was just too much like the Indigo mountains, making her feel sick and shaky, but the divine glow of the purple fire warmed her spiritually as much as it did physically.

Amy the Aggron and Rory the Lucario led the way up, foraging climbable paths through the snowdrifts and sharp stone. "We're not far from the peak," Rory called after nearly an hour of climbing. "There's a lot of power up there. I can feel it."

"But there are no other humans?" Looker asked.

Rory shrugged. "I can't tell," he admitted. "There are a lot of humans _around_ the mountain, but I can't tell which are friend and which are foe… the mountain's aura is… odd."

"Key and Blue and his mystery friend will be coming too, yes?" Looker asked. Saylee nodded, then tapped one of the emblems lining her bag strap. Her throat still hurt too much. "Gym leaders too? Yes, that will be very much help." Saylee then reached over and tapped the notebook in his top pocket with its Interpol emblem. "Will there be Interpol? Ah, well…" Looker winced uncomfortably. "As you know, I am not supposed to be working in Sinnoh. I should be in another country. But what the Galactic is doing must be stopped, no matter what!" He then pointedly ignored Saylee's questioning look.

Saylee huffed in frustration, annoyed that her throat still hurt too much to speak properly. _Between him, Lance, Steven and Cyrus, I have had it up to_ here _with cryptic assholes with their own agendas…_

"There's a cave up ahead," Amy called out. "I think we should get in there before you guys freeze…"

"A cave, hmm?" Looker said. "Some shelter would indeed be good. And perhaps the caves will lead us closer to the summit, eh?"

Saylee nodded, although rather than a cave, she was hoping to see some mountain Pokémon. She was almost certain that the howling that they'd heard meant that a challenge had been fought, and while she wasn't certain that Caelin had won, she had hope. _I trained her as well as I could, and she's fought so many different types of Pokémon all from over the world_ , she thought. _I'm sure she can handle her brother…_

The interior of the cave, once they'd gotten past a small drift of snow that had blown in, was astonishingly warm. Saylee was able to sit down and properly assess her injuries in the warmth while Amy and Rory went to scope out the caves. Looker stiffly stomped back and forth, shaking his legs, before withdrawing a bottle of painkillers from his multiple pockets. He shook out two into his hand, then offered the bottle to Saylee, who took one gratefully, warming her water bottle over her jar of fire for a moment before taking a drink and the pill. It was extremely difficult to swallow. She dug into her bag until she found a small compact mirror to have a look at her throat and winced at the black bruising all around it.

"Yes, large hands crushing a small throat, they can do that," Looker sighed. "You must have that seen to at a hospital, yes?"

Saylee nodded, but held up a finger to signal 'first' and then reached up to point upwards, towards the peak.

"Absolutely right," Looker agreed with a nod. "We _must_ stop the Galactic!"

Once she was sure that it was warm enough to take off her gloves, Saylee pulled out her pokégear and started typing on the screen. " _I don't have any of my Pokémon with me. Caelin's on the mountain somewhere. I don't know where the rest of them are. Probably with Blue."_ She held the screen up for Looker to read once she was done.

"Apart from Amy and Rory, I have with me…some other Pokémon," Looker said, tapping a few fingers against his coat hesitantly. "And other tools and weapons besides, which I am normally bringing along with me on missions."

" _That might not be enough to fight Cyrus and Saturn alone,"_ Saylee wrote, " _and however many others they have with them…_ "

"Perhaps, but as you say, others are coming, yes?" Looker said, pocketing the pokeballs again and raising a hand to the cave wall. "We must do _something_. Observe, if you will, this tunnel…" He picked up a fragment of rock on the floor and brought it over to Saylee. As he brought it into the firelight, Saylee saw that there were faded stripes of paint on it. "There was once a cave painting that had blocked the way to the summit… but the wall, it is no longer there. It lies in pieces. Do you see?"

" _So Cyrus and Saturn did come through here,_ " Saylee wrote. " _Cyrus doesn't have much respect for art history._ "

"Ever since the three Pokemon of the lakes have been captured, something terrible is happening, but what exactly, I do not know," Looker sighed, setting the rock fragment gently on the ground. "There is but one cause! Cyrus of Galactic!" he declared angrily. "...and now, we are all caught up."

" _Cyrus is trying to catch Dialga and Palkia,"_ Saylee wrote succinctly.

"Was there ever a time in my life that such things would have seemed absurd?" Looker sighed, scratching his chin. "Well, while we are waiting for Amy and Rory to find us a trail, to the next step. It strikes me, Sar, that we have never once fought, you and I, and so can we truly have the measure of each other?" He withdrew a pokeball again, grinning. "Show me, if you will!"

Saylee, feeling that even taking the time to type " _are you serious?_ ", just glared at him, hoping her face said it all.

Looker snorted and giggled quietly. "I am only making fun. You can relax now," he assured her, returning the pokéball to his pocket with another chuckle. His smile saddened a little. "Perhaps you do not have my measure, Sar, but I have yours, and you see, I understand that you are far superior to me… as are the Commanders. Cyrus too, naturally." He scowled bitterly. "Galactic is beyond my reach…" Saylee shook her head, but Looker held up his hand. "Be it Rocket or Galactic, you are always a step ahead. All I ever do is find your leftovers and arrest those who remain. It makes my work easier, certainly, but whenever I arrive on the scene, I often find myself believing that it was for the best, and that I would not have succeeded in cornering the enemy as you have." He pulled something out of his coat and held it on his palm, staring at it. She couldn't see what it was, and he made no movement to show it to her. "It would be a lie to state that…my reasons for stopping the plans of Galactic are purely of altruistic nature. It may as well be a selfish desire, made of anger and hatred. And revenge," he said bitterly, closing his fist around the object in his hand. "Perhaps it is a good thing that I am not able to face Galactic on my own. I had long forgotten how such deep loathing felt. It is sickening…and painful. I can only pray that those who experience such feelings are able to one day find a good person to extend a hand and reach for them, just as was once done for me."

He shoved his hands in his pockets. "My pursuits of Galactic were, perhaps, not entirely in vain. But as we all begin to gather at the summit…my aid will slowly become of less value. I can offer your Amy and Rory, as they are exceptionally powerful allies in combat—Donna, perhaps, as she is my first and oldest partner and strong despite her small size for a Deino, but… all other companions I carry with me, they are too young for such—such warfare. I dare not use them against Galactic unless the situation wills it." He paused for a moment and his expression saddened again. "I'm sorry," he apologized with a sigh. "You should not have to be made to listen to the sorrows of a middle-aged man. Especially now that we have come so far, and must keep strong and optimistic if we wish to succeed. I suppose I simply regret being so close to our goal of capturing Cyrus, and yet feeling so…so useless."

He finally looked up and met Saylee's eyes again. "People like you, Key, Blue… you must stop them, for only you are able! I wish I could be of more use. I wish that such responsibility did not always seem to fall on your shoulders. All I can do now…" This time he took out of his pocket not a pokeball but two small, round stones, one about twice the size of the other and both smooth as glass. "...is give you this."

Saylee looked from the marbles to Looker as he pressed them into her hand, eyebrow raised.

"It is a little something I obtained in an investigation long ago," Looker explained. "It-"

Saylee held up her other hand to silence him, shoving the marbles into her inner coat pocket as she sprang to her feet, senses pinging at the sudden _feeling_ from the tunnel where Rory and Amy had gone.

"Is something the matter?" Looker asked, straightening up and peering down the passage. "Can you hear something?"

 _Sense something_ , Saylee thought, trying to focus. _I feel… that_ has _to be a god, but they don't feel… familiar..._

She immediately switched from text to her phone book, scrolling rapidly through her contacts as the sound of footsteps started echoing down the tunnel towards them.

"Rory?" Looker called, standing up. "Amy?"

"We found someone!" Rory called, running towards them. "Not just Pokémon—humans, too! I think…"

"What do you mean?" Looker asked, looking over his Lucario's shoulder. "Are they human, or are they not?"

"Uhh…" Rory looked behind him, where Amy was approaching with a tall human in a long, ragged blue coat. Saylee found the number she was looking for and hurt her throat trying to swear at the lack of signal.

"Hello?" Looker called. "I am of the International Police, and this lady is a ranger of Kanto! Who might you be?"

"Police? Yeah, right," the man growled. As he grew closer to the light that Looker had set up, Saylee realized that the Pokémon following him wasn't Amy. It wasn't even an Aggron. It was too large. Way, way, _way_ too large.

She switched back to the text program and started typing as fast as possible as the Tyranitar loomed over them.

"Excuse me, sir, I have my ID right here—" Looker began, but was cut off as the Tyranitar grabbed him and lifted him off his feet. Rory snarled and leapt at the huge green Pokémon, but a Metagross got in the way, pinning Rory to the wall.

"Lots of the Galactics who came to the hotel had IDs too," the white-haired man said, grabbing Saylee himself and dragging her to her feet. "Who the hell are you writing to? Calling your—"

Saylee shoved the screen in his face. _You're Wes. Your wife is Rui. Michael told me about you. You're Darkrai. She's Cresselia. You have been since you vanished in the Halfmoon Hotel two years ago. You came here from Orre where you helped save Ho-oh and the Beasts from the Shadow Power. Ho-oh's avatar remembers you. I'm just like Michael. I protect gods. I'm not here to hurt you._

Wes read it slowly, his eyes widening slightly as he did so. "So Ho-oh… is in a human now?" he said. "Like Darkrai's in me?" Saylee nodded. "You mute or something?" Saylee tugged down her scarf again to show the black bruises around her throat. "Right. Cute story. And I know that it's true _how_?" Saylee tapped the part of her message that said " _Michael told me about you_ ". Wes glanced at it, narrowing his eyes. "And how do I know that he did?" he snapped. "I mean, sure, the stuff about avatars and Halfmoon Hotel should be stuff that only him and Rui and I know, but how do I know that he told you willingly? If you Galactic scum finally caught him, tortured him—"

"I must protest!" Looker shouted. "We are no Galactic! We have been hunting them across the country, and Sar Kanto's injuries have come from fighting against Galactic! They are on the mountain now, and we must stop them before they reach the peak! I am not certain what it is that they are planning, but because they are Galactic I know it must be very bad indeed! How can we prove to you our good intentions?"

"You can't," the Tyranitar growled. "We don't trust _any_ of you."

"But they're telling the truth!" Rory snarled. "And the longer you mess around attacking us, the less time we have to stop them!"

"I _know_ Galactic are here," Wes said. "The mountain Pokémon are out fighting them, at the command of the new Fire Lord."

Saylee gasped. _A new Fire Lord? Caelin?_ She wondered. _Take us to her! Take us to the Fire Lord_! She tried to say something, but she couldn't get her voice to come out. She only started coughing blood when she tried.

"Wes, she knows the new Fire Lord's name," the Metagross said. "She _wants_ you to take her to Fire Lord Caelin."

 _Yes! Take us to Caelin_! Saylee thought, almost giddy with relief that Metagross were psychic. _She knows us_!

"Can't hurt to run them by Caelin, if we can find her," the Tyranitar commented. "You know how she feels about Galactic, Wes. If they're not who they say they are, she'll probably kill them where they stand."

Wes nodded slowly. He set Saylee down, but then pulled her scarf off of her, using it to tie her hands behind her back, before throwing her over his shoulder. "Keep ahold of them," he ordered his Pokémon, ignoring Saylee's indignant struggling. "Let's go find the Fire Lord."

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:15 pm_ }

{ _Canalave City}_

" _Barry! Slow_ down!" Lucas thought as hard as he could, carefully guiding his sister around a patch of black ice. Dawn was refusing to open her eyes for any reason whatsoever, wrapping her scarf around them as a blindfold as soon as she could. She wouldn't say why, but Lucas could feel something inside of him telling him that something _bad_ would happen to anybody that Dawn looked at, at least until she could control whatever was inside her now. It was emanating from all three of them, their new power, and flaring randomly. Whenever his power flared, Lucas felt pain, as if it was straining to burst through his skin. His voice, barely at his command at the best of times, had completely left him, his entire throat feeling swollen and choked.

"Are you kidding? We have to get up there as fast as possible!" Barry snapped. Lucas winced as his friend's voice rang out unnecessarily loudly. Just as Dawn had refused to open her eyes since reawakening, Barry had complained loudly a few times of a noise he couldn't describe blaring in his ears and had been unable to hear anything that had been said aloud. Thankfully, a clear psychic connection had developed between the three of them, allowing Barry to hear Dawn and Lucas clearly, although he hadn't yet gotten into the habit of speaking through it. "If we go slow they'll catch us! Come _on_! Don't tell me you can't _feel_ it!"

" _Of course I can, but Dawn can't see where she's going!"_ Lucas argued mentally, frowning at his friend.

"I can run just fine, Lucas," Dawn insisted, squeezing her brother's hand. "I trust you to lead me right. Just maybe not as fast as Barry."

"Aaaargh! Here!" Barry said, running over and crouching down in front of Dawn with his hands behind his back. "C'mon! I'll piggyback you! Let's _go_!"

" _Are you strong enough to carry her?"_ Lucas asked. " _I barely feel strong enough to_ walk!"

"Sure I am!" Barry said, guiding Dawn to climb onto his back and trying to stand up. "I am the mighty—ACK!"

"Barry! Dawn!" Lucas mentally yelped as Barry collapsed, his mouthing dropping open and his throat aching as he silently tried to yell. " _I_ told _you!_ "

"Maybe you three idiots should shut up before somebody hears you," a voice said.

"Who's there?" Dawn demanded. She repeated herself psychically and Barry looked around frantically for the source of the voice. A purple ball of fire flared in the hand of the teenager climbing down a fire escape in front of them.

"Luckily for you, not your parents, the police or Michael Adamson," the redhead said, straightening his glasses, "but Adamson's got some freaky senses and he's closing in fast. We've gotta _move_."

"Hey… aren't you Roark? The gym leader?" Barry asked, staring at the teenager's face in the flickering purple light. "How are you holding _fire_?"

"Barry, he's like us," Dawn said and thought, straightening up and facing Roark, though she couldn't possibly see him through her scarf. "Aren't you?"

"Only way, way, way, way, way, _way_ stronger," Roark said smugly. "…but I get the feeling I'm still gonna need you three to stop what's going on up the mountain. This is your country, not mine. Now c'mon."

"Where's he going?" Barry hissed, even as he, Lucas and Dawn hurried after Roark. "This is the wrong way!"

"Nahh, just going to where I parked my friends," Roark said, stepping through a hole that seemed to have been melted in the side of a shipping warehouse.

Inside, the warehouse was empty, save for three huge Pokémon. In the gloom, not much could be made out of them aside from the occasional glimpse of sharp fangs, rippling fur and their sheer size.

"Okay, kid, the blind one's your sister, right?" Roark said, pointing to one of the beasts. "You two get on Entei's back. Blondie, you'll match Raikou." He pointed to a second beast, who padded slowly towards Barry and then knelt to allow its charge to climb onto its back. Entei did the same for Dawn and Lucas. "I'll ride Suicune. They'll get us where we're going. There's nothing faster, trust me. Can we hurry up and _go_? My stepmum's looking for me as well, and I hate it when she's disappointed at me."

"Did she ban you from going up Mt Coronet as well?" Dawn asked, sitting sidesaddle on Entei's back and clinging to Lucas from behind.

"Yeah, they think Galactic's gonna get us if we go up there," Roark said, hopping onto Suicune's back. "I know they're after gods, but it's not like they can stick us in pokéballs, is it? Besides, what are we _for_ , if not fixing stuff like this? Let's go!"

Lucas yelled and gripped tightly onto Entei's back as the three beasts leapt, jumping right through a missing ceiling panel and setting off across the rooftops at a blinding pace. The smell of the air around them changed in seconds from sea salt to forest, the only indication that they'd already left the city and were on their way up the mountain.

If Lucas thought about it, he could feel the slight pressure of the gem in his forehead. It wasn't uncomfortable; it felt so much a part of him that he didn't notice it when he wasn't thinking about it. " _What are we for, if not this_?" he wondered. " _What_ are _we? Why did these gods call to us? What's going_ on _?"_

" _I don't know, but maybe Sar Kanto will be able to tell us,_ " Dawn suggested. " _Mr Adamson said she understands this stuff a lot better than he does."_

" _I bet Roark knows about it too, if he's some kind of god too,"_ Lucas replied, enjoying the private conversation. It didn't feel uncomfortable at all to have his sister and best friend in his head; they now felt like comfortable extensions of himself. " _He said we can stop… something. Whatever's coming for the mountain. Can we?"_

" _I don't know_ ," Dawn said, squeezing him a little tighter, " _but I guess we'll find out. And I'm not going to let Galactic hurt you again, okay? I promise."_

{}

{}

 _More Orre characters! A little :P I also feel obligated to apologize in advance to everybody outside the UK for everything that Boris Johnson will ever say or do as our new Foreign Minister. (Help us)_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Rory the Lucario, Amy the Aggron, Donna the Deino, Ace the Azumarill, Canton the Croagunk, Clara the Croagunk_


	46. Chapter 45

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:15 pm}_

 _{Underground}_

"Glad to see these tunnels are still intact," Byron said, leading Key and Professor Rowan along the seemingly identical underground passageways. "There'll be a point not far from here where we'll get to the tunnels that the Pokémon use, but I don't know if they'll give us permission to get through or not…"

"Terra can speak for us," Key promised, holding up the Turtwig's pokéball. "She used to work here."

"On that subject, did the princess ever locate Prince?" Professor Rowan asked.

"We found him and, uh… the guy he went with," Key hedged. "He didn't kidnap Prince. Prince is an Empoleon now, by the way, and Caelin's an Infernape, but Terra's still refusing to evolve. She's pretty tough as she is, though."

"It's good to know that they're all safe, at least," Professor Rowan sighed. "I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to do when they turned up at my lab. It isn't _uncommon_ for wild Pokémon to appear at my lab or gyms, looking for a trainer to help them become stronger, but, well… young trainers looking to inherit a gym or reach the Pokémon League or simply make some quick cash just wouldn't want to train someone like Caelin or Prince, who would leave them for their own clans once strong enough… or Terra, who doesn't want to evolve. I didn't expect to find trainers who would be able to help them achieve their own goals. Thank you for that."

"Well… Lee and I already have a lot of Pokémon that we've trained," Key said with a shrug. "But since the teleporter system is down for safety reasons because of Galactic, we can't get any of them here…" She clutched Terra's pokéball to herself. "…I wish I could have had some of them here to fight Galactic. Someone like Thomas or Manami or Topaz, who are already so strong, and then maybe I wouldn't have lost so many Pokémon fighting Galactic… I guess this was how Lee feels, huh?"

"Halt! Who goes there?"

Two lights were approaching from the darkness ahead; as they grew near, they transpired to be the flickering tails of a Chimchar and a Monferno. Key released Terra.

"Ah… we're in the lower tunnels, are we?" Terra said, looking around and spotting the two fire-types. "Good evening, friends. I am Terra, in the service of Princess Caelin, and these humans are my companions. We have been separated from my Lady. Is she here?"

"She is, and she's Fire Lord Caelin now," the Monferno said excitedly. "Her defeat of Lord Indra was incredible! She let him live, but she took his arm, and now she's leading the clan to wage war against the humans that invaded the mountain!"

"Are you _sure_ these humans are with you?" the Chimchar said suspiciously. "We just got told it was humans attacking and that we weren't to let any in."

"You are a loyal soldier, young lady," Professor Rowan said, kneeling down in front of the Chimchar. "The people who are attacking your mountain are called Galactic. These people are all human leaders, like your Fire Lord, and it is our job to deal with humans who do wrong."

"We're sorry we haven't stopped Galactic before they invaded your mountain," Byron said also kneeling to put himself on a level with the small Pokémon, "but we're here to help you fight them."

"I've been fighting alongside Caelin for a long time," Key added. "I know why she paints blood on her face and wears that rose over her ear. My name's Key, and my friend Saylee trained Caelin."

"The Fire Lord did say that the humans Key and Saylee were to be allowed to pass," the Monferno said to the Chimchar. "I suppose, human Key, that if you and Miss Terra can vouch for these other humans, we can let you through. Cheri will escort you into the middle of the mountain."

"Thank you very much," Terra said, bowing her head. The humans all respectfully inclined their heads as they followed the little Chimchar into the inner passages, which were rougher and clearly not carved by human hands.

"Will he be alright, guarding alone?" Professor Rowan asked, glancing back at the Monferno.

"I'll send someone to go join him when we get to the main caves," Cheri said. "Besides, they all seem to be going up the outside of the mountain. The human tunnels are a real mess. Are they safe?"

"Not really," Byron admitted. "We're getting taken to the inner caves, huh? This _is_ an honour."

"Well, the other humans are there too," Cheri explained. "It seems like the best place."

"What other humans?" Key asked.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:30 pm_ }

{ _?}_

From Saylee's vantage point, there wasn't a lot that she could see aside from the legs of the Tyranitar plodding down the stone halls behind her and Wes. She could hear Looker's occasional exclamations, Rory and Amy muttering to each other as they carefully followed their trainers' captor, and occasionally a curious young Pokémon peering at her before being pulled out of sight—aside from Chimchar, there were also a small number of Turtwig and Piplup, as well as some Machop, Clefairy, Geodude, and several other species that she didn't know—but mostly, all she could see was the back of Wes' jacket. It was tattered, dirty, and had been sewn back together in several places, and in general reminded her of every piece of clothing she'd owned before the age of about seventeen.

She could also hear Pokémon muttering all around her. For a long while, they sounded like children's voices, asking for food or complaining of being bored or asking when they would get to go back outside. A few were complaining about the heat, which was rising rapidly the further they got into the mountain. Saylee was starting to fear that they were in fact inside of a volcano when she heard somebody complaining about the temperatures that the Fire clan liked to keep their halls at. _Of course, they're fire-types. If there's a lot of them in here, it's bound to be hot… but it sounds like they're hiding all their young in here, away from the fighting outside. Where's Caelin?_

"Where are you taking us?" she heard Looker demand.

"I told you, to Fire Lord Caelin," Wes said flatly. "Just looking for her right now."

"Fire Lord Caelin's fighting the invaders!" a Pokémon, unseen to Saylee, declared. "She took a band up to the Eastern Ridge to fight the invaders there!"

"The east? Thanks," Wes said, turning and heading up another tunnel which took them away from the blazing heat. "All go for the new Fire Lord, sounds like."

Saylee coughed, spitting phlegm and a little blood on the tunnel floor. "She—" she croaked, starting to feel her voice come back. Uncomfortable as it was, her upside-down posture did seem to be getting things moving in her throat again. "She's wanted… revenge… on… Gal… actic…" She coughed again as the sharp syllables hurt her throat. "for… long time."

"A very great many people wish for revenge against Galactic," Looker said quietly. "They have hurt very many people for their purposes."

"Oh yeah? And do you know what those purposes are?" Wes asked sharply. "'Cause I'd _love_ to know what those assholes want with shadow power."

"They didn't… get it…" Saylee began to say, but her throat was on fire again and she started coughing so hard that her whole body jerked and Wes nearly dropped her.

"Might wanna shut up," Wes said helpfully, setting her down until the coughing fit passed. She leaned over to spit blood out on the ground. "Try not to choke yourself to death before we see the Fire Lord."

There was a sudden bout of shouting from a crossing passage. The echoes made it impossible to hear what was being called, but to Saylee's surprise, Key came running around the corner, a Chimchar hot on her heels.

"HEY! I told you, if you keep running off—" the Chimchar yelled angrily before taking in the scene. "Lord Wes? What's going on?"

"Lee! I thought I heard you!" Key exclaimed, running over to hug Saylee, who choked. "Oh my god, are you okay?!"

"Who the hell are _you_?" Wes demanded, grabbing Key's shoulder. Two more people and a Turtwig ran around the corner.

"Saylee! Damn, am I glad to see you," Byron sighed, grinning in relief.

"Same," Saylee croaked, hugging Key back and then letting Byron help her to her feet. "Wes," she added, coughing and pointing to the man in question.

"Wes?" Key said, frowning, before doing a double-take. "Oh! The guy Michael told us about? The guy who's—?"

"Didn't expect to see you out here," Byron commented, looking over Wes. "I thought you and the missus were still at the Halfmoon Hotel. That's what Galactic think, at least."

"They can keep thinking that," Wes grunted, looking suspiciously around at the group.

"That man is Professor Rowan," Rory pointed out, "who Galactic've been trying to steal research from several times. Would they need to if he was working for them?"

"And his pal there's a Gym Leader," Amy added. " _Not_ Galactic."

"Everybody knows Galactic has somebody in the League," Wes said, grabbing Saylee by the arm. "I'm running you all by Fire Lord Caelin. If you're not Galactic, you don't have a problem with that, right?"

"Hey, let her go," Byron said with a scowl, grabbing a pokéball. "We're not Galactic. We're not here to cause you trouble. No need to get rough."

"Let's just… see Caelin," Saylee coughed, shaking her head at her stepfather.

"May we move on with much haste?" Looker added. "We have not much time."

"Fire Lord Caelin is up above," Key's Monferno guard said. "This way…"

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:30 pm_ }

{ _Veilstone City}_

"I don't think I understood a word of Key's explanation…"

"Well, Galactic are clearly up to some illegal shit, so you can bet that Saylee's throwing herself into the middle of it and Key's getting dragged along for the ride…"

Michael turned so fast that he nearly tripped over himself, followed by him actually tripping over the person running close at his heels. "Sorry, Danté," he said, pulling the teenager back to his feet and running after the two other teenagers that they'd passed. "HEY! YOU! HOLD IT!"

"We're not cops!" Danté added as the brunet and the black-haired girl stiffened perceptibly and glanced over their shoulders at the shouting. "Do you know these people?" he asked Michael. "They're not—" Danté waved his hands vaguely in the direction of his own head.

"No, they're not, but—you two," Michael demanded. "Were you talking about Key Weaves and Saylee Pryce?"

"Why, d'you know them?" the brunet asked, looking from Michael to Danté.

"There's a lot of people I need to find and they're two of them," Michael said, scratching at his nose to cover a reflexive attempt to straighten his glasses. Contacts irritated his eyes, but if he was liable to be getting into a fight today, they were harder to smash off his face than glasses. "Where are they?"

The girl folded her arms, looking at Michael and Danté with a raised eyebrow. "Who wants to know?"

"Danté Allegri, at your service," Danté said, giving her an elaborate bow. Michael rolled his eyes. "Absolutely charmed to meet you, miss…?"

"Ledah Elliot," Ledah said, smiling and flicking her hair over her shoulder. "Nice to meet you too, gorgeous. You from around here?"

"Oh my gods," Michael complained, pressing a couple of buttons on his pokétch screen. "Look," he said with exasperation, showing the other teen an image of his call register. There were a dozen unanswered calls to "Sar Saylee (G)", "Lady Key (G)" and "STUPID PIECE OF DESERT TRASH". "I've been trying to get in touch all morning to find out if they know anything about… a couple of friends of mine that I think might be in trouble. What with one thing and another, I'm pretty sure they know something. Do you know anything about them?"

"Who even are you?" the kid asked with a frown. "Isn't that guy the conman who does magic shows?" He pointed at Danté, who was caressing one of Ledah's hands as the pair flirted competitively. "What are you, his lovely assistant?"

"My name's Michael Adamson and I work at a hotel in Canalave," Michael said, rubbing his hands through his spiky red hair in exasperation. "And right now I'm looking for a pair of idiots who might know where my idiot friends have gotten to, and _this_ idiot might be able to help me but only if I have any idea of where they are, so seriously, do you have ANY damn clue that could help me?"

The teen held up a finger, then did a quick search on his pokénav, nodding when Michael Adamson's name brought up a picture that matched the man in front of him. "Bacent Petalburg," he said, nodding at Michael. "And the last I saw they were headed up to Mt. Coronet, along with a bunch of other crazy people, like half of Galactic and I'm pretty sure the Sinnoh champion, so we're gonna get the hell out of here in case gods start battling it out over the city or something."

"Very real chance of that," Michael muttered. "Thanks. Danté, get some later! We're going to Mt. Coronet now!"

"My card," Danté said with a winning smile, pressing it into Ledah's palm before turning it over and kissing it. "Pleasure to meet you, Ledah."

"Likewise," Ledah said, pocketing the card. As soon as they broke contact, Michael grabbed Danté's arm and dragged him away down an alley.

Ledah and Bacent followed them to the mouth of the alley and peered curiously down it. It was a dead-end, but Michael and Danté were nowhere to be seen.

"That was weird as hell," Bacent said. "What do you think that was about?"

"I dunno, but I hope they don't die on Coronet—that guy was _hot_ ," Ledah commented, pulling her hands back out of her pockets. "Nice rings, too. How much do you think these are worth?"

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:45 pm_ }

{ _?}_

"What the hell is this?" Wes demanded, looking around.

"Oh good, it's not just me," Saylee croaked. "I was starting to think I had a head injury…"

"I assure you, it is not just you," Looker said grimly, "but what _is_ it?"

The length and size of the corridor seemed to be fluctuating and twisting around the small group of humans and Pokémon. Though they were sitting still, the rock seemed to be moving under their feet, and brief glimpses of places that were definitely _not_ mountain tunnels passed by them.

"Space is warping," Rowan said, looking down at his tablet with a frown. "The laws of physics around here are—"

Whatever the laws of physics were inside of Mt Coronet, they didn't find out. For a brief moment, they were, not in a mountain, but sitting by a mountain stream. It was only for a fraction of a second, but that was enough for Professor Rowan to vanish with a _splash_.

"Professor!" Byron yelled, stepping to where they had been, and vanishing himself as the space warped.

"Nobody move!" Saylee tried to shout, even as it burned her throat. She grabbed Key's wrist with one hand and reached out to grab Wes' with the other, refusing to let go as he tried to jerk away. "Hold onto each other or we'll lose each other when the space warps!"

"You speak as if you have experience of such things," Looker said, returning Amy and Rory before grabbing onto the Tyranitar with one hand and Wes' other wrist with the other. This time, the young man didn't respond, his eyes briefly glazing black.

"She does," he commented, staring at Saylee with raised eyebrows. "She has nightmares about it. A creature that twisted space and killed people by—"

"Thank you, Darkrai, please shut up now," Saylee interrupted, "unless you can do anything to make this _stop_."

"If this was a nightmare you were having right now, sure," Wes said with a shrug, "but as far as I can tell, this is actually happening in reality."

The tunnel twisted again, then… stopped, stilling around a black circle that appeared in the air. A blond teenager in a black suit stepped out with a flourish, followed by Michael Adamson nearly falling through.

"FINALLY!" the redhead gasped, grabbing Wes' arm. "You asshole, what the hell are you doing here?!"

"Where there are a ton of the warmest, best-guarded caverns in the country, surrounded by only wild Pokémon who are totally willing to obey us and nothing weird was happening until today? Damn, why _would_ I pick here for us to hide out?" Wes said sarcastically. "What the hell's going on, Mike?"

"You!" Looker gasped, pointing at the blond, who closed the portal with several elaborate hand movements. "I remember you! You were there at the cliffs!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" the teen said, snapping his fingers. "You were the guy I saw taking a nosedive outside Evergrande City! You okay, dude? You were pretty messed up when I dropped you off."

"I believe I would have been more, as you say, messed up had you not caught me before I hit the rocks," Looker said wryly. "I did not get to thank you, but… thank you."

"Ah, I was just passin' by, and, y'know…" the kid said with a grin. "We gotta stick together, right?" He held up a hand which Looker, despite his confused expression, enthusiastically high-fived.

"We? Are you from Interpol, too?" Key asked, helping Saylee pull herself to her feet.

The space around them seemed to have stopped warping, and Saylee had a feeling it had something to do with the pulsing black aura around the blond boy. "You're the other god that Michael mentioned, aren't you?" she asked.

"Danté Allegri, at your service!" the teen said, sweeping up Saylee's hand and kissing it. "Are you ladies Saylee and Key? Mr Adamson, you never warned me that your friends were so stunning!"

"Uh, thanks," Saylee said, taking her hand back. Key giggled as Danté kissed her hand too. "Seriously, though, what are you and are you anything to do with how weird things were getting around here?"

"It's not me causing it," Danté said, holding up his hands defensively. "Frankly, it's wearing me out fast to hold it back. But it only seems to be happening around the mountain, so shall we retire somewhere more comfortable?"

"Well, you and Wes _definitely_ need to get out of here," Saylee insisted. "Officer Looker—"

"If this young man is not causing the space to warp, then it must be whatever Cyrus is doing on the peak of the mountain," Looker said. "You must help us go there!"

"I'm not going anywhere without Rui," Wes said stubbornly.

"Whoa! Hey! One at a time! I've only got a limited amount of portal juice in me before things start gettin' squiffy!" Danté said, having his hands. "There's a bunch of other people running around this mountain, I know. I can feel a few of them—people like me, or potentially like me, I suppose? I'd rather get everybody in one place before—"

"If you can get us out of here, then Rui and I are getting out of here _now_ ," Wes insisted.

"Find somebody who feels like—well, she's like the polar opposite of him," Michael said, pointing at Wes. "Cresselia. We'll get everyone together where she is and then decide who's getting out of here and who's going to go deal with whatever Cyrus is doing to reality."

"Alright, then, if everybody could move a little closer together," Danté said, theatrically rolling up his sleeves. "Mr Tyranitar, sir, do you have a pokéball you could go in? I would like to keep this portal as minimal as possible."

"Sure," the Tyranitar said, looking at Wes. "Gotta say, boss, I'm starting to feel a little in over my head here…" Wes nodded and returned him.

"Everybody together? Alright," Danté said, raising his hands. "And a-one, and a-two, and a-THREE!" A portal appeared in the air when he flicked his wrists. "Step inside, gentlefolks, I assure you it isn't dangerous!"

"What makes you think we can trust this kid?" Wes asked Michael.

"Well, I'm not staying here until another warp drops us in a river," Key said firmly, stepping into the portal with Saylee.

Thought the portal itself appeared black, there was no flash of black or warped space as they stepped through it; instead, it was like their vision cleared, as if it was revealing that, rather than being in a long tunnel, they had in fact been in a high, crowded cavern the whole time.

"Sorry!" Saylee gasped as she nearly stood on several baby Chimchar, who fled the portal in a panic. The room was primarily filled with tiny Chimchar, whose tails lit and warmed the vast space, but there were infant Cleffa and Machop and a dozen other species there too. Hundreds of baby Bronzor and Chingling huddled in the air, Geodude no bigger than a human fist sat in shivering heaps, baby Zubat too tiny to fly covered the ceiling. The room was _filled_ with the infants of every species that lived on Mt Coronet, along with, dotted here and there, a greying, faded elder or those too wounded to fight, like a Machoke with a missing leg and a Noctowl with only one wing. They were packed so closely and huddled so tight that none of them were vanishing as the space at the far edges of the cavern warped, though the air was filled with their cries of fear.

"Rui!" Wes yelled as soon as he stepped through the portal, hopping over to a young woman with deep red hair who was sitting in the middle of a heap of baby Chimchar who were all sleeping contentedly despite the fear and distortion around them.

"Wes, what's going on?" she asked, sitting up and dislodging the baby Chimchar as gently as possible. "Michael! Hi!"

"Hey, Rui," Michael said with a wave, trying to edge away from the portal without stepping on anyone. Looker and Danté came through last. Danté closed the portal with a snap of his fingers, then spread his arms and frowned with intense concentration, making the warping space in the cavern still.

"Man, space is getting _really_ messed up around here," he said, jumping as another portal opened up behind him.

"Time, too," Danté said, stepping out of the portal with Cynthia. "Nothing I can do about that. I'm Hoopa, not Celebi. Huh, my hair's getting longer than I thought," he added thoughtfully, peering at the back of himself.

"Oh, Sar Kanto, Lady Key, there you are!" Cynthia said, looking around. "Are we in the middle of the mountain?"

"Yeah," Key said with a nod, pointing to the pair of Dantés. "Do you have a twin brother?"

"No, it's just me again," the new Danté said, closing the portal behind him as soon as Blue and Archie came through. "You need to go get these guys," he said to his other self.

"Saylee! You're alright!" Blue said happily, sweeping her up in a hug. "…Why're your hands tied up in your scarf?"

"We found Wes and Rui Rosefield," Saylee croaked, nodding at the pair of demigods as Blue started unwrapping her scarf from her wrists. Danté high-fived himself and then one vanished through a portal.

"Danté, you need to get Wes and Rui out of here now," Michael said, turning to his friends.

"Where can we go that's safe, though?" Rui asked nervously, putting a hand over her stomach. "Michael, you know they've got people in the League, they even got people into the _hotel_ —"

"Go to mine," Byron said. "Most of my Pokémon are still there, and my wife Johanna'll look after you. Plus, Silver—Roark—is there too."

"He's a god too, and a pretty strong one," Michael added. "C'mon, I'll come too for a bit of extra protection, how about it?"

"If it helps, I can guarantee that Byron _isn't_ the Galactic mole in the League," Cynthia added. "I'm just waiting for final confirmation, but I'm pretty sure I know who it is, and if he isn't on Coronet right now, I'll bust him as soon as we're done here. Gotta keep the gods safe," she added with a wink.

Danté snapped a portal open. "Shall we?" he said, gesturing to the portal.

"Byron's trustworthy," Rui insisted, gazing over all of them intently. "They all are. None of them have the same stagnant aura to them as Galactic…" Archie looked away, frowning at the ground, but Wes finally nodded, helping his wife to her feet.

"Keep this place safe," Darkrai's avatar said sharply, looking around at all of them with eyes that promised nightmares if they failed, though Saylee suspected that would be the least of their problems if they did. "'Safe country' my ass…" Danté followed the three of them through the portal and vanished.

"Now what? We wait for that young man to come back?" Rowan asked, looking skeptically around.

"It would seem he is our best chance to reach the peak without being lost in dimensions," Looker said with a shudder.

"I'm okay with not getting lost in dimensions," Blue volunteered, looping Saylee's scarf back around her neck gently. "Seriously, are you okay? You look like somebody tried to strangle you again."

"Very astute," Saylee croaked, rolling her eyes. "I'll be fine. We were following Cyrus and Saturn on the way to the peak when we ran into Wes being paranoid…"

"We kinda ducked out of a fight with Jupiter," Archie said, "but I think Caelin, Star and Sally are going to carry it just fine without us."

"I called the other Leaders and most of them should be on their way up," Cynthia added. "I'm sorry you all had to get involved in this, Sar Kanto, Lady Weaves, Mr Oak…" she glanced sidelong at Archie. "…well, if _you_ want to pay some of your dues by cleaning up, you're welcome to. But this is _my_ country they're trying to unmake reality in, and I should've had this covered."

"Hey, we all live in this reality," Key offered. "Well, mostly. And we did _not_ nearly get killed saving the world this summer for it to get unmade entirely, did we, Lee?" Saylee responded with a fistbump.

"Speaking of the other leader… who _is_ the mole?" Byron asked with concern. "I heard rumours that somebody in the League was working for Galactic, but…"

Before Cynthia could answer, Danté reappeared in their midsts. "Did I nail that, or have you all been waiting for six hours?" he asked, looking around.

"Reality is still here, young man," Professor Rowan pointed out.

"I see why they made you a Professor," Danté said, rubbing his hands and then producing another portal with a flourish. "All aboard for the peak of Coronet?"

{}

{}

 _So many characters… _ (I complain, properly introducing yet another character for the first time in this chapter). Like Miror, I'm nervous about using Dant_ _é_ _because he's somebody else's baby XD But he's here because his powers and existence matter too._

 _...Also, I've added both Looker and Cynthia's teams to the team rosters for the next couple of chapters, but are there any other characters on Mt Coronet whose teams people are curious about and would like to see on the rosters?_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Rory the Lucario, Amy the Aggron, Donna the Deino, Ace the Azumarill, Canton the Croagunk, Clara the Croagunk_

 _ **CYNTHIA**_

 _Titania the Togekiss, Lewin the Lucario, Mira the Milotic, Raisa the Roserade, Godiva the Garchomp, Glenys the Gastrodon_


	47. Chapter 46

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:00 pm}_

 _{Mt Coronet}_

Riley staggered as the space around him warped and shifted. The ground immediately under his feet didn't seem to be moving, but the world was _spinning_ —

"RILEY!" he heard Luke yell. He reached out to where he could feel his Lucario's aura and felt a paw grab his arm just before he fell. Space fluctuated crazily around him as he fell through snow and sunlight and rain and—

"I got you," a familiar voice said soothingly as Riley and Luke landed on something hard, an arm wrapping around Riley's shoulders. "You okay?"

"Oh, thank god," Riley blurted out as the world stopped spinning and resolved itself into Steven Stone's face. On impulse, he hugged his friend tightly.

"Hey, it's okay, we're friends, you can call me Steven," Steven laughed, hugging him back. "Seriously, Riley, are you okay? I heard you nearly died…"

"I'm fine," Riley said, looking around. He, Luke and Steven were sitting on Bozider's back while the Metagross flew up the mountain, surrounded by… "I see you got the Unown to come out and play," he commented.

"Well, they don't depend on this reality as much as the rest of us do, but hey, that does mean that they can get around these dimensional fluctuations pretty easily," Steven commented, hunching a little more into his long black coat as the strange one-eyed Pokémon spun in the air around them. He tightened his hands around the strap of a large, heavy-looking sack that was slung over his shoulder. "But if space and time are warping…"

"…that means that Cyrus is at the peak, right?" Riley said grimly. "What _exactly_ is he planning to do?"

"He thinks he can unmake this reality and remake it as he likes," Steven said flatly. "He can't. If he isn't stopped, he will fail and everyone and everything that has ever or ever will be alive will die."

"So, no pressure," Riley said wryly. Steven grinned. "Oh, no… you're planning something, right?"

"I have a plan," Steven agreed, "but I'd like to see what plans Cynthia, Sar Kanto, Lady Weaves and Sir Blackthorn have first. My plan is very much a last-resort plan."

"Who's Sir Blackthorn?" Riley asked.

Steven pointed down at a large Dragonite struggling to fly through the intense spatial warping while protecting the smaller, red-haired figure clinging to its back. "Looks like he could use a hand," he commented to the Unown, some of whom peeled off to go help the dragon master. "After all, when dealing with a dangerous criminal seeking to unmake reality, the more the merrier, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that the last time you said that, we were fifteen and losing badly at _Final Fantasy XXXIII_ until Cynthia joined the party," Riley commented.

"Well, he's not as pretty, but… going our way, Sir Blackthorn?" Steven asked as Lance and his Dragonite were brought up next to Bozider by the Unown.

"What the hell are… you know what? I've given up caring," Lance sighed, watching the Unown spin around them. "I'm not even going to ask."

"In my experience, it doesn't usually do much good to ask anyway," Riley said, glaring pointedly at Steven. "These dimensional distortions, Steven… are Candice and Maylene going to be okay? I left them holding their own just fine against Mars and her goons, but…"

"They'll do a lot better once we stop Cyrus from twisting reality," Steven said, pointing at the oncoming peak, from which a red light was shining.

"Now _that,_ " Lance commented in a tone bordering on approval, "is _ominous_."

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:00 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

"I remember you, Princess," the hulking Skuntank snarled, flinging a Poison Jab at Caelin. "Weak, pathetic little girl who starts fights and then lets others die in her place!"

"That is _Fire Lord_ to you," Caelin snarled, pummelling the Skuntank with Mach Punch, forcing it back and away from its mistress, leaving Jupiter with a weaker Golbat and Bronzor to defend her from two angry Luxray. "Star! Sal! Do not let her escape!"

"Like I need _you_ to tell me!" Star snapped, rolling out of the way of a Bronzong-induced Rock Slide.

"Twinkle!" Sally cried, giving the Bronzor a fierce Crunch that made it scream in agony, flinging random psychic spikes of pain around. Sally winced, but kept chewing at it.

"Giga Drain that damned Luxray!" Jupiter ordered her Golbat, who swooped down and sank its fangs into Sally's neck. Sally yowled around her mouthful of Bronzor.

"Keep your filthy fangs off my SISTER!" Star snarled, hitting the Golbat with a violent Thunderbolt. It didn't do any more than ruffle Sally's fur, but the Golbat collapsed, twitching and smoking.

"Those damned weaklings!" Jupiter's Skuntank growled, raising her claws to Night Slash Caelin. "Do us all a favour and just _die_ yourself, won't you?!" When Caelin ducked to avoid the blow, momentarily taking her away from her opponent, the Skuntank turned on Sally and Star. "And you two can _burn_ ," the vicious poison-type snarled, raising her tail with an unsettling _clicking_ sound.

"NO!" Caelin roared, jumping into the path of the foul-smelling Flamethrower. The fires glanced off her hide like water off a Floatzel as the Fire Lord advanced on her opponent, spinning the flames around herself into a Flame Wheel. "We will allow you to take NOT ONE LIFE MORE!" she bellowed, charging into her enemy and knocking her backwards…

…over a cliff edge, where the Skuntank vanished into the snowy darkness. After a moment, her howls were cut off with a _crack._

 _At the precipice again,_ Caelin thought, staring down at where her foe had disappeared. When the promised regret failed to materialize, she looked back across the battlefield, lit in random patches by the Galactic members' lamps and the tails of her Monferno warriors. The snow was splattered with various colours of blood, and many, both friend and foe, were lying still on the ground, either unconscious or dead. The last few Galactic grunts were being surrounded, most of them already raising their hands in surrender.

"You are defeated," Caelin snarled, turning to Jupiter, who was looking around frantically as Star and Sally circled her, growling. "Will you surrender and face judgement?"

"What I do from this point on hardly matters," Jupiter laughed, grinning wildly. "Once Cyrus remakes this world, you and your pathetic little clan will be _nothing_!"

"You—!" Sally snarled, leaping at Jupiter, but before she reached the purple-haired human, the world around them began to _twist_ —

—the snowy mountain vanished before them and instead there was stone and _boiling_ heat and they were falling—

—but Caelin could still feel snow brushing her tail and whipped it out, wrapping the end of her tail around a tree root as she reached out to grab Sally by the hand paws and yank the Luxray backwards—

—and then the distortion was gone, Mt Coronet was nothing but cold snow and stone and evergreen around them.

"SAL!" Star cried, running over to her sister.

"Wha… what happened?!" Sally yowled, looking around frantically and then staring at Caelin. "Pri—Fire Lord! I almost had her! If you'd just let me have a few more inches, I could have—"

"Ended up wherever she did," Caelin said, shaking her head.

"And it looked _nasty,_ so that bitch is probably dead," Star said reassuringly, licking Sally's cheek. Her fur was slightly singed.

"But we don't _know_ that!" Sally moaned. "I was _so_ close… I _almost_ got her!"

"Her life is not worth yours, Sal," Caelin said firmly, reaching out and stroking her Luxray's ears. "Nor is it the best way to honour the memory of Leo…" Sally winced, flattening her ears. "…or any of the others she has slain. What is important is that you are alive."

"…Thanks," Sally said, bowing her head. "Thank you, Fire Lord Caelin."

"Yeah… Thanks," Star added, to the visible surprise of her sister. "Thanks for saving my sister. You're alright, for a stuck-up Noble."

"Your gratitude is appreciated," Caelin said, smiling at the pair of Luxray.

"And weird," Sally said, cocking her head. "What even _was_ that… change?"

"There are ancient stories," Caelin said slowly, "of the world changing, of disparate places and times suddenly connecting as the world falls out of balance… all caused by the Temple at the peak becoming defiled." She turned and bellowed at the top of her lungs, drawing the attention of her army. "Maisie! You and the other Monferno will guard these prisoners until the humans take them for punishment," she ordered. Her sister saluted, the Monferno's tail flaring. "Clarinda," she continued, causing a large Clefable to flutter her wings expectantly, "if you and your people would see to the proper retrieval and respectful preparation of our honoured dead…"

"Of course, Fire Lord," Clarinda said with a bow. The other Clefable and Clefairy began to gather into groups to carry bodies from the battlefield.

"We require two Chingling messengers," Caelin continued. Two of the smiling blue-and-pink psychics flitted up to her, jingling softly. "Fly to Iona's battalion in the North and Indra's in the West, and tell them that the Temple has been defiled and that they _must_ make haste to the peak!" The two tiny psychics nodded and flew off into the darkness. "All other warriors still capable of fighting and strong of resolve to defend our mountain will follow us to the peak!" Caelin roared, leaping up onto Sally's back. "There we shall end whatever foul scheme these fiends have put into motion!"

The other wild Pokémon roared or bellowed their agreement, following as Sally and Star turned and began to run up the mountain.

 _Please let us be in time,_ Caelin thought, clinging to Sally's back. _Please let us arrive before the Red Chain is used…_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 10:55 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

"Here we are!" Danté said proudly as they popped out on a barren, broken rock. "Not _on_ the peak, per se, but close enough, right?"

"Right…" Saylee said, looked up at the towering, broken columns around them. They looked incredibly ancient, worn so much that if any detailing had been carved into them, it was now barely more than a suggestion in the stone. Torches burned in randomly situated alcoves, casting long, flickering shadows all around them. Key, Archie, Cynthia and Looker were all starting to look pretty woozy from all the portal-hopping, but Blue was already climbing up one of the fallen columns and peering over it.

"Shit," he muttered, sliding back down almost immediately. "Cyrus is there with his Honchkrow, Weavile, _and_ Gyarados… and that Saturn asshole's there too. The two humans're holding some kind of containers… you think they're the Red Chains?"

"We can take the two of them," Cynthia said, looking at Danté. "Kid… what's wrong with your stomach?"

"Ah, milday Champion, are you checking out my—wait, what?" the blond said, looking down at his stomach and doing a double-take at the sight of his dress shirt tucking into some kind of small, dark depression that was pitch black into the middle, twitching as if his shirt were slowly being sucked in.

"Uhh… why do you look like you have a black hole in your gut?" Key asked.

"I, uh… Ah!" Danté cried, staring at his hands and then desperately patting down his pockets. "My rings! Where are my—I _need_ those! Where the hell did my rings go?!"

"Young man, you were not wearing rings when you first appeared to us," Looker pointed out.

"Or when we saw you," Cynthia added. "Can I ask _why_ you need your rings so badly? What _are_ you?"

"You never hear any fairy tales about Hoopa when you were a kid? Not that I'm a fairy-type…" Danté said, turning out his pockets, looking increasingly frantic. " _Incredibly_ long story…"

"They generally are," Saylee muttered. "I am going to have _words_ with Michael later…"

"…but my rings aren't just rings," Danté said quickly, his glib demeanour melted under rising panic. "Hoopa opens and closes wormholes, you see? Kind of my thing. And I generate those portals from a black hole contained inside me—don't ask me to explain it, science doesn't have all the language I need yet. But without my rings, it's getting unbound, and, uh…"

"Okay, we've got plenty of rips in reality without you getting in on it," Archie muttered. "Where'd you last have them?"

"Well, lemme think… definitely had them when Mike called me up to ask me to help him find his friends… then we ran into those friends of yours, Ledah and what's-his-name…"

"Oh gods, did you do that I-kiss-your-hand thing to Ledah?" Key groaned. "Were those rings of yours nice-looking? Like maybe they were expensive or valuable? Because if so, I guarantee they're in Ledah's pockets right now, if not already on their way to being fenced…"

"Agh! Bad, bad, BAD!" Danté yelped, pressing one hand over the black hole in his stomach. It was smaller than the palm of his hand, but growing slightly, and beginning to make a whistling noise. "I'm sorry, I'd love to stay and help, but I'm just going to make things worse if I don't find those rings!"

"Then for goodness' sake, go find them!" Cynthia hissed, releasing her Garchomp, Lucario and Togekiss, along with a Roserade and Milotic. Danté nodded and vanished. "The rest of us will try and deal with Cyrus and Saturn before things get any worse. Titania, there's a Gyarados over there that I need you to Shock Wave." Her Togekiss nodded. "Lewin, Mira, Stone Edge and Ice Beam that Honchkrow." Her Lucario raised her paws while her Milotic reared up, frost forming around her head. "And Godiva, I need you to Flamethrower the Weavile. Raisa, stick close to me. While we're dealing with Cyrus' Pokémon, the rest of you spread out and surround Cyrus and Saturn," Cynthia ordered, turning to the humans. Saylee nodded, running her fingers over her pokéballs, counting over who she had on her. _Zoe… Ferne… Elsa… Shanks. I hope Caelin and Sally are alright…_ "Saturn'll probably have Pokémon too, and Cyrus could have more. If they do… Irving, Mr Oak, I hope I can count on you to handle their Pokémon while Lady Weaves, Sar Kanto and Agent Looker focus on getting those containers away from Cyrus and Saturn and capturing the two of them."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Key said, saluting.

"We must move quickly!" Looker hissed, climbing up the pillar again. "While we have been speaking, they have been doing a thing! Cyrus is opening one of the containers!"

"Then let's _get_ them!" Cynthia commanded, grabbing Looker's trenchcoat to drag him down and out of the way while Titania flew over the pillar and blasted a wave of electricity at Cyrus, Saturn and their Pokémon.

{}

{}

 _Where has this unstoppable avalanche of Steven Universe come from? IT'S AUGUST, IT'S OVERTIME MONTH, I'M OUT OF THE HOUSE FROM 7.30AM TO 8PM (Later a lot of days because happy August, folks, it's time for The Fringe!) AND I DON'T HAVE TIME TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THIS FANTASTIC TV_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **CYNTHIA**_

 _Godiva the Garchomp, Titania the Togekiss, Lewin the Lucario, Mira the Milotic, Senka the Spiritomb, Raisa the Roserade_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Donna the Deino, Amy the Aggron, Rory the Lucario, Ace the Azumarill, Canton the Croagunk, Clara the Croagunk_


	48. Chapter 47

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:31 pm}_

 _{Mt Coronet}_

"You three go around that way while we play decoy!" Blue called, running one way around the fallen pillar and dragging Archie with him. Saylee, Key and Looker ran to the other end of the pillar, waiting for Cyrus and Saturn to be suitably distracted.

"Is there a plan of attack?" Archie asked, releasing Prince, Warin, Basil and Pegasus.

"Sure there's a plan," Blue said, releasing his full team. "Attack! But don't smash those containers they're carrying! Adam, try and steal 'em," he added to his Alakazam, who nodded and teleported away.

"You will not interfere!" Saturn yelled angrily, releasing his Toxicroak, Golbat and Bronzor. The Bronzor charged up a Shadow Ball that struck Adam as soon as he appeared in front of Cyrus.

"Dammit… Gary, get that stupid flying plate!" Blue ordered.

"Help him out, Pegasus!" Archie added. "The rest of you, get 'em!"

Behind Saturn, Cyrus was hurrying up giant stone steps to some kind of podium, both canisters in his arms. Key, Saylee and Looker were running towards Cyrus, past his and Cynthia's struggling Pokémon. "And somebody get that asshole Saturn," Blue added with a growl. _C'mon, Saylee, get those canisters and whatever the hell's in them…_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:43 pm_ }

{ _Veilstone City}_

"There you are, Mr Court," Richard Hawkshaw said, grinning hugely at the sight of the lawyer, who was sitting in the lobby of the Veilstone police station with a somewhat dazed smile and stroking the ears of Larry, his Linoone. "So, you ready to defend the two hundred an' seventeen Galactic schmucks we arrested here today?"

"Actually, I think I'm handing in my notice," Court chuckled, rolling his shoulders as he stood up. "Which does mean I'm free to take on new clients—you're not in any trouble with your department, are you?"

"Eh, yeah, there's kinda gonna be a major internal investigation…" Richard said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "But hey, if I get suspended or fired, that's more time at home with Maggie and the kids, and frankly I don't think I'm ever gonna let 'em outta my sight again!"

"Yeah, I—Milo!" Court exclaimed, grin brightening at the sight of the prosecutor walking into the lobby, rubbing his unusually fuzzy chin with an unhappy frown.

"Hunts, man, we _missed_ you!" Larry exclaimed, shooting over to leap up and snuggle around the somewhat startled Milo Hunter, who was knocked to the ground by the excited Linoone. "I know you're not a hugger, but man, you just spent a couple of months in captivity, so you _gotta_ accept some _hugs_!"

"I—well—yes, thank you," Hunter stammered, allowing Court to pull him to his feet. "Frankly, what I _really_ need is to go home to get a shave, some clean clothes, five thousand showers…"

"Can't blame you, pal!" Richard laughed, slapping Hunter on the back so hard that the prosecutor stumbled, saved from falling over again by Larry leaning against his knees to prop him up. "Hey, you alright?"

"Did they feed you at all the whole time?" Court demanded, peering closely at Hunter. "Look, do you think you'd be better off coming back to mine first? I can get you some food, you can get just as good a shave and a shower, and I think until more Galactic members are captured, you probably shouldn't be alone..."

"That… is probably true," Hunter allowed, rubbing his unaccustomed beard again, possibly to hide a slight smile. He poked Court sharply between the eyes. "And from what I understand, _you_ have some explaining to do, Galactic Defence," he said sharply. Larry sniggered.

Before Court could defend himself, there was a series of _crashes_ outside, followed by a great deal of screaming. The three men exchanged a look and took off running out of the station.

"Goddamn lawyers an' cops, always runnin' _towards_ screams…" Larry growled to himself, shooting off after the three humans. "What's goin' on?"

"Good question," Hunter panted, stopping almost immediately outside of the station and staring. He'd been born in Veilstone, had lived and worked there all his life, and knew the city from every angle, yet the skyline was _wrong._ Several buildings were suddenly the wrong shape, with chunks missing or new sections jutting out from them; another range seemed to become trees at the top; an entire road had turned into a swamp, thick green water flowing from nowhere to flood the streets. People were fleeing into or out of buildings, but some were vanishing into nowhere and others were appearing from nowhere, stumbling and staring around at the strange place at which they'd found themselves.

"The hell? Are you seein' this too?" Richard demanded, looking wildly around.

"This is… ye gods," Hunter muttered, gripping Court's arm and pointing up at the peak of Mt Coronet.

A pillar of black light was shooting into the sky from the peak of the mountain.

"…well, that can't _possibly_ be good," Court observed faintly. He raised his wrist, frantically pulling up Phoebus and Diana's phone numbers. "Pick up, pick up… Diana?!" he called as his daughter picked up her phone first. "Diana, where are you and your brother?!"

" _Daddy! We're, uh… Daddy, where are you? Are you okay?"_

"I'm okay, and so's Milo," Court said quickly. "Maggie and the kids are alright too. Where are you?"

" _Oh, wow! Bussy, they found Milo and the Hawkshaws!_ " Diana called. " _Daddy, we're in Canalave. We're trying to help Danté find his rings… do you remember Danté Allegri?"_

"That magici…? Look, Diana, you and your brother need to get somewhere safe," Court said as Detective Hawkshaw grabbed both him and Hunter by the arms, clutching them with a whimper as a chunk of the police station vanished. "I don't know what's happening on Mt Coronet, but—"

" _It's okay! Danté does, and he can help protect people from it!"_ Diana said brightly. " _Don't worry, Daddy, we're on the case! You and Milo get somewhere safe until we can come get you, okay?"_

"Wh—Diana!" Court yelled as his daughter hung up, staring at his C-Gear. "Wha…?"

"What's happening?" Hunter demanded. Court was once again spared having to answer by the ground vanishing under their feet, dropping the three men and Larry into the sea.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:32 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

Saylee, Key and Looker started running as soon as Blue and Archie attacked, distracting Saturn's attention while Cynthia took down Cyrus' Pokémon. Cyrus himself, however, was climbing up the massive, worn brownstone steps to the giant platform in the centre of the peak, clutching two large canisters, each glowing faintly red.

"Stop him!" Key cried, flinging her pokéballs up onto the platform, releasing Terra, Tashigi, Raiden, Maya, Ephraim and Gareth around Cyrus.

"Stop Cyrus! But don't break the canisters!" Saylee yelled, throwing Zoe, Ferne, Shanks and Elsa up as well. Looker was the first to ascend, the tall man's long legs allowing him to charge right up the steps while Key and Saylee gave each other boosts up.

"Uh, Key…" Gareth called as his trainer climbed onto the top of the platform, dragging Saylee after her, "how do we stop him without breaking the canisters?" The Galactic Leader was standing in the centre of a circle of Pokémon, entirely unruffled by being completely undefended, Zoe and Maya in particular growling furiously at him.

"You have nowhere to go, Cyrus Akagi," Looker said, pulling handcuffs out of his pocket and walking towards Cyrus. "Give up now, and—"

"Where would I go?" Cyrus said, cracking the closest thing to a real smile that Saylee had ever seen on the man's face, so broken and unhinged that it gave them all pause. "I am exactly where I need to be! Everything is ready for the creation of a new world! Now, all will end…"

Saylee started running towards Cyrus, intent on getting to him before he stopped talking. Looker also lunged forwards, but Cyrus stepped back, his wild grin not faltering even as Maya froze his feet to the ground to stop him moving further.

"…and everything will begin!" Cyrus cried, allowing himself to fall forwards, smashing the canisters against the ground. Humans and Pokémon alike were blasted backwards across the platform by a blast of red energy; Looker slammed into Saylee, who slammed into Key, all three of them crashing to the ground. Some of the smaller Pokémon, particularly Tashigi, Terra, Zoe, Elsa and Ephraim were sent flying entirely off of the platform, and Raiden and Shanks actually returned to their pokéballs amidst panicked screaming.

"With this, the Red Chain made from the crystals of the three lake Pokémon," Cyrus shouted from somewhere within the howling red light, "and the Red Chain I replicated with technological means… with these Red Chains I will pry open the portal to another dimension!"

 _But they're incomplete_! Saylee tried and failed to scream, the breath entirely knocked out of her by the forceful application of an Interpol officer. She rolled off of Key, who sat up, clutching her back and head and mouthing breathless profanities. _The crystals have been stolen! The technological chain won't work! NEITHER CHAIN WILL WORK!_

The glow slowly resolved itself into two long, red shapes, more like rope than chains, winding around Cyrus' hands and writhing in the air. "I COMMAND THAT YOU UNLEASH YOUR POWER FOR ME!" he bellowed, lashing one chain out like a whip. "DIALGA, THE MYTHICAL POKEMON, AND THE MASTER OF TIME!" He whipped out the other chain. "PALKIA, THE MYTHICAL POKEMON, AND THE MASTER OF SPACE!"

Two huge black orbs formed in the air above them, spinning and writhing translucently, before suddenly splitting apart to reveal…

The left chain wrapped around the neck of a tremendous blue creature. Its body was lined with soft blue light and cruel silver spikes, and it was as huge as Groudon or Kyogre, and yet managed to give the impression that it was a _miniature_ version of itself, as if it had shrunk down just for them…

Palkia was just as colossal and yet sleeker, all pink and silver, standing tall on two legs instead of sturdy on four, reaching its clawed, armoured hands to its throat as the right red chain wrapped around it. Huge, layered wings clacked out of its back as it and Dialga both _roared_ in voices that shook the continent. Looker exclaimed something in a language that Saylee didn't recognize, but the tone and his expression were enough to convey a very shocked expletive.

"I've waited so long for this moment, Dialga and Palkia!" Cyrus shouted, gripping the chains and wrangling the two gigantic Pokémon as they pulled against his control. "Shaping this world is a double spiral of time and space… yes, the very things that you have the ability to control!"

Saylee struggled to stand up; some force seemed to be pushing her back, away from Cyrus. All around her, Pokémon were howling, but the howling was steadily increasing, the few dozen voices swelling to hundreds. Beyond Cyrus, she could see an army of wild Pokémon swarming up the peak, lead by a bellowing figure in white and orange.

"YOU WILL DO MY BIDDING!" Cyrus roared, pulling the chains tighter. "I WILL HAVE YOUR ABILITIES AS MINE! WITH THE POWER I WIELD, I WILL CREATE AN ENTIRELY NEW WORLD!"

 _They're fraying! They're going to break!_ Saylee tried to scream, staring at the straining chains. To her shock, Cyrus turned to face her. She wished he hadn't. His teeth were bared in a wild smile, and tears were pouring down his cheeks, but what they were pouring from weren't eyes. It wasn't that his eyes were _missing;_ it was that in their place were _voids_ , black wells of something darker than black that had no place in a human head.

"The incomplete and ugly world we have now can disappear," he chuckled. "I am resetting everything to zero. Nothing can remain."

"How DARE you!" Caelin screamed, charging and leaping, but falling to the steps as she, like Saylee, was pushed back by the force that surrounded Cyrus, who actually sighed.

"It is all for making the ultimate world," he told them. "A world of complete perfection. Nothing so vague and incomplete as spirit can remain…"

Dialga and Palkia howled as purple fire washed over the red chains. _Silver_! Saylee tried to gasp as she looked up to see her brother come swooping down towards her on translucent rainbow wings that vanished the second he set foot on the ground. Behind him came Suicune, Entei and Raikou, carrying Dawn, Lucas and Barry on their backs. All three had red crystals shining in their foreheads.

"We have to break those chains!" Silver shouted at Saylee and Caelin.

"But then Dialga and Palkia shall be unleashed!" Caelin argued.

"EXACTLY!" Silver bellowed. "Those chains aren't working!" he turned to yell at Cyrus. "Can't you see it from where you're standing? That black pit forming at their feet isn't your new world! It's them calling for BACKUP! LET THEM GO!"

"…Pathetic and worthless," Cyrus muttered, turning back to Dialga and Palkia. "Your coming here is in vain. Such pointless drama…"

"Why can't you destroy it?" Barry yelled as Raikou brought him closer. He was pale and clinging closely to the lightning demi-god. "I thought you had the power of a god…!"

"I just… I _can't_ , okay?" Silver growled.

"A god's power can't break those," Steven commented, floating up on Bozider, Riley sitting next to him. Lance and his Dragonite were flying close by. The Metagross seemed pushed back as the rest of them were, so Steven jumped off, landing on the steps ahead of Saylee and Caelin, Bozider immediately backing away from the platform even as Lance and his Dragonite fought to get closer. Unown flowed past the former Hoenn champion, the chittering black-and-white shapes flying in random patterns around Dialga, Palkia and Cyrus, most of them congregating around the black hole in the ground, watching intently. "One way or another, Cyrus is going to get a new world if those chains aren't broken," Steven said darkly, pulling a huge, heavy pack off of his back. "The fool doesn't realize that you can't _make_ people be perfect…" He looked back at Saylee. "The problem is that, unless the gods are linked in some way, their powers can't affect each other. Balance issues. Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie could do some damage, but…" He looked critically at the three weak, pale teens clinging to the backs of the Beasts. "They're too weak right now. Ho-oh is powerful enough, but can't do anything… forgive me, your Majesty, but neither you nor any other mortal Pokémon on this mountain can do a thing," he added, bowing courteously to Caelin, before glancing sharply at Saylee.

 _The power of a god,_ Saylee thought desperately, _but if they're not a god…?_

"Watch closely," Cyrus ordered them. "You've constantly interfered with my plans, but you will be forgiven. After all, there will remain no spirit for all time when I am done. All spirit will disappear. It will be ripped away... From you! From your Pokémon! From those precious to you...! It is time! My dream will be my reality!"

"Stand down, you fool!" Steven shouted, turning to face Cyrus. He set the pack at his feet and unclipped the top, reaching for something inside. "I will only ask once!"

 _Or what?_ Saylee though, dropping to her knees and thinking, as hard as she could, _Mewtwo… please hear me… You're the only one who can help here! MEWTWO!_

" _I am here._ "

"The hell is that?!" Silver yelled. Saylee looked up to see Mewtwo floating in front of Cyrus, glaring down at the human, before turning his gaze to her.

Saylee pointed to the red chains. "DESTROY THEM!" she yelled as loud as she could, even as it tore at her damaged throat. Mewtwo glowed purple as blast after blast of razor-sharp psychic energy slammed into the chains.

"Holy shit, you actually called him," Blue shouted, bursting through the throng on Gary's back. "I hope you were planning for him to go to town on those chains…"

Saylee nodded, glancing at Steven, who was merely watching Mewtwo curiously, hands resting on the edges of his pack. "Mew's clone, hmm?" he muttered. "Well played…"

Cyrus roared in rage, tugging the chains tighter and tighter until…

Both chains snapped.

Dialga and Palkia roared again. Saylee leapt up and down, reflexively trying to cheer before thinking better of it as pain sliced her throat and made her spit up a mouthful of blood. Blue wrapped his arms around her and cheered for her, but his victorious grin faded as Dawn screamed.

"It's too late!" she shouted, pointing a shaking finger. "PLEASE DON'T!"

"Why are they not leaving?!" Caelin demanded, staring at the way that Dialga and Palkia continued to float placidly over the peak of Mt Coronet, glaring down at Cyrus, who was staring blankly—through what, thankfully, were human eyes again—as the red chains disintegrated in his hands.

"What the hell happened?" Cynthia demanded, charging up to the platform with Greta. "Riley— _Steven_?"

"We need to get out of here," Greta snarled. "Can't you _feel_ it?"

"Oh, this _will_ be fun," Steven sighed, running a hand through his hair tiredly.

"Do you know what the hell's going on here?" Blue demanded. "Why the hell aren't those two leaving?"

"They're staying to watch," Steven muttered, staring up at Dialga and Palkia, who were both staring at some spot on the ground beneath them.

"God _dammit_ , Steven, I have had _enough_ of you and your cryptic—" Cynthia began, grabbing Steven's arm and shaking him sharply, cutting herself off as the ground shook violently under their feet. The pack at Steven's feet was knocked over, spilling worn, faintly-coloured slabs across the ground.

A pillar of blackness shot into the sky.

"M'lady, we need to GO!" Sally shouted, running past and scooping up Caelin. People and Pokémon both fled the bond-grinding _roar_ of _something_ within the black pillar. Saylee looked up, chilled to see burning red eyes appear within the blackness.

"GO!" Silver shouted, running after Saylee as Blue dragged her back down the steps, followed by Key. Entei, Suicune and Raikou darted off and were gone in a flash. The only ones who didn't move were Steven and Cyrus.

Cynthia paused, turning back. "Steven, let's GO, you idiot!" she yelled at him. Steven continued to glare at Cyrus.

" _What_ is _that?_ " Mewtwo asked, floating alongside Saylee, Blue and Silver as they ran.

"The thing in the pillar? Hell if I know!" Silver yelled.

" _No, not_ that _—_ "

"Interesting," Cyrus chuckled—actually _laughing_ , a cold, utterly uncontrolled laugh. "So, there is a Pokémon that can only appear as a shadow."

Six red shapes appeared from the void, like a set of teeth. They slowly spread, creating sharp black wings of shadow with red edges. The Unown danced around them, screeching wordlessly.

"I'd tell you to run, but there's no longer time to escape, Cyrus," Steven said in a voice that was almost a growl. "But drop the remnants of the chains and you have a chance of survival. This is the only chance I'm giving you, Cyrus!"

"No!" Cyrus spat, raising the remains of the chains and beginning to tie the ends together. "The effort is rash and foolish! I have harnessed the powers of Dialga and Palkia, and now…!"

"STEVEN, GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Cynthia screamed, running towards her old friend as the shadow-wings rose and curled into claws, raising above the oblivious Cyrus, who had turned his back to scream at Steven.

"I, Cyrus, won't have anyone else interfeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee—" Cyrus screamed as the creature struck.

It was as if a moment was frozen, a second looping, Cyrus' scream vibrating as the creature's claws curled around him and dragged him into the darkness. The air around Saylee was suddenly made of treacle, so thick and heavy that she could barely move, barely breathe, even though Pokémon were fleeing easily all around her. Silver dashed past her and Blue, then stopped, staring in horror at all of the humans trapped in slow-motion. Unconscious Galactic grunts were littering the ground while Cynthia, Looker, Saylee, Blue, Archie, Key and Lance struggled to move.

Then, in an instant, Saylee was sucked off of her feet and into darkness.

{}

{}

 _I'm really sorry that this chapter's out a couple days late, my week just went full-bore August… I've been working open to close for the last week and then from Saturday I've been going from Fringe show to Fringe show all evening, in only a couple of cases because I'd booked show tickets and mostly because I kept running into people I knew who were performing in shows or working on shows and asked me to come. Saw a lot of really good stuff and I don't regret going to any of those shows or seeing any of those people, but getting up at 6am and going to bed after midnight while spending the day walking the length of the city is ROUGH. So today I slept until 3.30 and then got up to put up this chapter belatedly XD Sorry about the wait!_

 _Also, is anybody else jazzed about all the Sun & Moon news? I'm so in love with the new type variants of old Pokemon-it's canonizing a long-beloved fandom concept and doing it REALLY well, and in general the game looks so fucking pretty. In particular, I'm super pumped for _Ghost Marowak _. We're making PLANS :D_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **CYNTHIA**_

 _Godiva the Garchomp, Titania the Togekiss, Lewin the Lucario, Mira the Milotic, Senka the Spiritomb, Raisa the Roserade_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Donna the Deino, Amy the Aggron, Rory the Lucario, Grace the Arcanine, Ace the Azumarill_


	49. Chapter 48

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:459pm}_

 _{Mt Coronet}_

"SAYLEE!" Silver screamed as he saw his sister sucked into the pillar of darkness in the blink of an eye. The Pokémon around them, wild and trainer alike, were all untouched, but humans were all being sucked in. Lance, Looker, Archie and Key went flying over his head and into the void in an instant.

"No!" Dawn shouted, clutching her head. Silver turned and glared at Entei, Suicune and Raikou as he saw the three Beasts pausing to watch with their horrified demi-human passengers. "Where did they go?"

"I don't know!" Silver yelled angrily. "You three, STAY!" The Beasts whined in protest as Silver turned and ran towards the black void, vanishing as soon as he touched the pillar.

"Hey! HEY!" Barry yelled, flopping down on Raikou's back. "Guys… what do we do?"

Lucas radiated uncertainty and concern; images flashed through Dawn and Barry's minds of the stones in their foreheads, of Michael telling them how their essence was rescued from Galactic. The feeling of concern intensified.

"You're right," Barry agreed. "They saved us! We gotta at least _try_ and save them!"

"You don't want your master to go in there alone either, do you?" Dawn asked Suicune, stroking her blue ears. "I know you want to go help him, don't you?" Suicune nodded uneasily. "I know you were ordered to stay, but… you want to go, and so do we."

"He'll be grateful in the end!" Barry encouraged them, sitting up and patting Raikou's head. "Besides, he loves you guys! We can tell! He wouldn't get mad at _you_!"

Lucas tapped the red stone in his forehead, and Dawn and Barry's hands went to their stones unconsciously. "We… _can_ help, can't we?" Dawn asked, turning to face Steven even though she couldn't see him also standing untouched, with Riley clinging to his Metagross' back behind him, the aura master and his Lucario staring in open shock at the Unown swirling around them, more and more of them congregating around the black hole in the air. "You know, don't you?" Dawn added, somewhat more accusingly. " _Can_ we help them?"

"I'm sure you can," Steven agreed, bowing with a flourish towards the black hole. The three Beasts needed no further encouragement to dive into the darkness with their riders.

"Steven!" Riley yelled as Steven himself stepped towards the pillar of darkness.

"Riley, you should stay with Bozider," Steven said, looking over his shoulder at his friend. "Oh, and keep an eye on those tablets for me, will you?" he added, gesturing to the flat stones that had spilled out of his bag.

"Steven, what the hell's going on?" Riley demanded, climbing down from Bozider anyway and running over to Steven. He pointed up at Dialga and Palkia, who were still floating over the battlefield and watching the black hole. "What happened? Where is everyone? Why did that only suck in humans, but not you, me or those kids?! What's—" He looked at Mewtwo. "And who or what are _you_?"

" _I… came to offer my help,_ " Mewtwo said, staring at the black pillar, which was beginning to sink back into the ground, the red-edged beast inside gone. " _I do not know where they are…_ _I cannot feel them. I could before_ … _I could feel them when they disappeared into…_ " He looked at Steven, tipping his head to the side slightly.

"Yes, but the Missing One's pocket dimension was formed from the same power as yours, wasn't it?" Steven said, crossing his arms and staring thoughtfully at the shrinking gap. The Unown were almost entirely gathered around it, aside from a few flitting around Dialga and Palkia, who were watching the tiny one-eyed Pokémon with something like caution.

" _Yes,_ " Mewtwo said, staring at Steven. " _It was unnatural… like me…_ "

"Don't say that like it's a bad thing. That unnaturalness allowed you to snap the red chains, and as bad as this looks it would've been a lot worse if Cyrus still had Dialga and Palkia chained when _that_ opened," Steven said, stepping towards the void. "Although things are _always_ messy when Giratina gets involved…"

"Hold it," Riley demanded, running after him. "What the hell's going on here, Steven? You're acting… even weirder than usual."

" _What are you_?" Mewtwo interjected.

Steven grinned at him. "Of course," he said. "You're a Pokémon, so you can see. But you were made by humans, so…" He smiled at Riley. "Forgive me, my friend, but explanations must come later. I was hoping not to get this involved, but… can you all keep the portal from destabilizing this reality until I get back?" he asked, holding a hand out to one of the Unown. Several of the little black-and-white Pokémon gathered around his fingers, buzzing to each other and then to Steven. For some reason, Riley couldn't understand a word that they were saying, but Steven smiled. "Thank you. I really am sorry. I should've just gotten involved a long time ago, but I'd hoped… never mind. I'll be back soon!" He ran and leaped into the wavering black portal, grabbing the edges and pulling them behind him, causing the portal to shrink down to almost nothing. Dialga and Palkia leaned forwards, as if watching a movie that had just gotten interesting, while the Unown as one circled the hole, giggling to each other.

"What the…" Riley muttered, staring at where his old friend had vanished. "What the hell…?"

"Sure looks like Hell," Rashad muttered, staring at the way the stones of the ancient temple had been burned and warped around where the pillar had been.

"What did you mean?" Luke asked Mewtwo. "When you asked Steven what he is?"

"Good question," Riley said, staring at the tall grey Pokémon. "What are _you_ , for that matter? You didn't answer before."

"Oh, he's a clone of Mew," Rashad said brightly. "Blue knows him. Made in the final days of the Kanto Civil War. Blue was very relieved that you've gained more control over your powers, by the way." Mewtwo nodded.

"I mean, Steven's always had an odd aura," Riley continued, "like nothing I've ever felt in another human, but—"

Mewtwo cut him off. " _Does he look human to you_?"

"What? Steven? Of course!" Riley said in surprise. "He _is_ human!"

" _And you?"_ Mewtwo asked Luke.

"I've never seen this weird aura Riley's always going on about," the Lucario said with a shrug. "He's never had much of an aura at all, really."

" _Of course_ ," Mewtwo said, looking from Riley to Luke. " _Because you are a human, and you are a Pokémon. And I… am something in between._ "

"And what does that mean?" Rashad demanded. "What does that guy look like to you?"

Mewtwo's eyes glowed purple as he showed them.

Luke and Rashad fainted.

{ _Darnua 22_ _nd_ _, 11:49 pm_ }

{ _Mt Coronet}_

"I can't thank you both enough," Gardenia said, untying her headband and using it to wipe sweat from her face and neck before the exertion of the battle faded and the liquid froze. "I don't know if I could have held out until the rangers got here without you… I'm just sorry you got mixed up in this. I'm the Leader around here. This is my job." _And it_ _'s about time I started doing it,_ she thought guiltily. Sabrina hadn't meant to hear the other woman's thoughts, but Gardenia felt guilt and regret so strongly that it was impossible for the overstimulated psychic _not_ to hear.

"It was our pleasure to assist," Erika said with a little bow, scanning a politely disgusted look over the Galactic members that were being cuffed and dragged into police helicopters—or ambulances. "There is no shame in accepting help… allowing your pride to make you unable to protect the people for whom you are responsible is a far greater shame."

Sabrina couldn't help reaching out to squeeze the older woman's hand; attuned as she was to her former teacher, she couldn't help seeing the strong memories that flashed behind Erika's eyes, the ways that Rocket had abused their power over Celadon City. "We must go to the peak," she said softly. "That's where they wanted to keep you from—"

The psychic stiffened sharply as the world around her _tore_. She grabbed Gardenia's shoulder with her other hand the instant before all three women fell from a snow-covered mountainside to muggy, damp darkness.

"What—what happened? Where are… BAKULA! OLEANDER!" Erika called. Sabrina could hear her turning back and forth as she called for her Pokémon. "TAFOTILA!"

"I'm here," the Tangrowth said, her searching vines spreading across the floor and curling gently around Sabrina's legs when they found her. She heard Gardenia gasp, her shoulder tensing slightly under Sabrina's hand, then she relaxed with a sigh. "I don't think any of the others are, though. I had a vine around Lady Erika's wrist to keep track of her…"

"That's how you were taken here with us," Sabrina said with a nod.

"Where are we?" Erika asked. "Sabrina, why did you—?"

"I didn't," Sabrina said, shaking her head. "I didn't perform that teleport. Something is very, very wrong." She gripped a little tighter onto Erika's hand and Gardenia's shoulder. "Abdul and Aziz should have found me by now… they should have followed me as soon as we vanished into that warp. But everything feels… strange…"

"I _think_ we're in the Underground," Gardenia said at length. "This feels underground. Tafotila, right? Can you find any lanterns? If we're in the official tunnels, there should be lanterns…"

"Hmm…" Sabrina could hear the slithering of the Tangrowth's vines, and was slightly glad that she couldn't actually see it. As no more than a Tangela, Tafotila had commanded half of the wall of vines that had once surrounded and mostly protected Celadon City until enough Rockets disguised as refugees had rotted it from within. It had been reduced not long after Rocket's defeat in Kanto and was now gone entirely, but Sabrina still shivered to remember the unpleasant mass of writhing, thorn-covered tentacles, a vicious mass that could not be more different from the demure gardener who tended them. "Sorry, ma'am, I can't find anything," Tafotila reported a minute later.

"I hope we're still in Sinnoh," Erika murmured, and Sabrina didn't need to be able to see her to tell that the older woman was frowning. "If we don't know what that warp was or what caused it, we could be anywhere…"

"Give me a minute to meditate… perhaps, if I can make a link to Abdul and Aziz, I can get them to teleport us back," Sabrina suggested, letting go of Erika and Gardenia and slowly kneeling on the floor, placing her hands on her knees. It made little difference to shut her eyes, really, given how all around her was pitch-black, but she did it anyway, the physical action helping her to retreat into her mindscape and extend it, connecting to the minds around her…

She carefully skirted around Gardenia's, not wishing to be intrusive, even though the woman radiated the fear that she was violently trying to suppress…

Tafotila's mind extended all around them, in a view of their immediate surroundings created by the touch of her tentacles…

Erika's mind was tucked in on itself, tightly restrained, but still felt like a warm light, almost _welcoming_ to being read rather than being forced to speak her feelings aloud…

Other minds flared in the darkness of the solid earth around them, strange burrowing Pokémon sharing the same knowledge…

"We are under or near Mt Coronet," she said, hoping that she was speaking loudly enough; she dared not retreat from her mindscape to her physical senses enough to hear her own voice. "There are wild Pokémon nearby who have been called to war by the Fire Lord."

Then there were more and more wild Pokémon, their mindscapes melding as they fought together, clashing against others, Pokémon and human, and every so often a mind would suddenly vanish, leaving an aching gap…

Then she felt another mind reaching out towards hers, another psychic…

She gasped sharply, opening her eyes and managing to reach out and snag the edge of Gardenia's cape and Erika's skirt just as the world shifted around them and, in a pink _flash_ , they appeared on the peak of Mt Coronet.

The second thing that Sabrina noticed was that it was chaos, or recently had been. A gigantic Gyarados was lying in a lightly smoking heap with a large Togekiss sitting over it, talking quietly to a pair of Togetic. Various other Pokémon were lying in the snow around a curiously bare stone plaza, some of them being tended to by a number of Clefable, others appearing to be guarded. A tall Infernape with their fur in a long white cape and blood all over their face was standing on the steps leading up to the plaza, staring up at what hovered above them, which was the _first_ thing she'd noticed and which quickly recaptured her attention.

Two gigantic Pokémon were hovering in the air above them, one near-indiscernible through a haze of blue, the other glowing so brightly pink that it was almost impossible to make out. Beneath them, a black disc hovered in space. It appeared flat, but when they started to move up the slope that they were standing on, it seemed to move so that its flat side was always facing the viewer.

"…Sabrina? Where _are_ we?" Erika asked. Tafotila reached out tendrils of vines around all three women's waists to keep them stable as they climbed up the crumbling stone strewn with snow and blood.

"Well, I sought out a familiar psychic signal, and… MEWTWO!" Sabrina cried, pointing at a tall grey figure in the distance. In a flash, the most powerful psychic Pokémon in the world stood before them.

" _Hello, Sabrina,_ " Mewtwo said, carefully reaching out to touch Sabrina's outstretched hand with his own bulbous fingertips. Sabrina smiled, patting his hand back. " _I am pleased to see that you are safe. I knew that you were in Sinnoh, and I was concerned that you were caught in the dimensional anomalies that have developed._ "

"We were, but nothing dangerous," Sabrina said, looking back at Gardenia, whose shock she could feel hovering behind her. Erika looked unruffled, but she always did. "Gardenia, this is my friend Mewtwo. Erika, Tafotila, I haven't introduced you to him before…"

"I have heard rumours," Erika said, holding out a hand with a pleasant smile. "Pleasure to meet you, sir." Mewtwo's eyes widened slightly and he stared at Erika for a moment as if seeing a human for the first time before he tentatively reached out and touched her hand.

"Uh… is he…?" Gardenia asked shakily. "I mean, I heard rumours when I was a kid that people in Kanto were all, y'know, mutated, but I thought that turned out to be…"

"Mewtwo is a Pokémon," Sabrina cut in, slightly more sharply than she'd intended. "He is the only one of his kind."

"Is he the one you teleported to?" Tafotila asked, offering a vine to the powerful psychic in lieu of a hand.

Sabrina nodded. "Mewtwo, what is…?" she asked, gesturing to the glows of black, pink and blue above them.

" _The Gods of Space and Time were called to this place,"_ Mewtwo said, looking up, " _and nearly all of the humans who were in this place at this time were drawn into… some other place. Followed by the humans who were not fully human, and… I am very confused."_

Sabrina rested her hand on his arm again. "I am sorry, Mewtwo," she said softly. "I came here in the hope that I could take your place in the fight against Galactic, so that you would not have to…"

" _That's_ why you wanted to come to Sinnoh?" Erika asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not to examine your prospects at Hearthome University?"

"That too!" Sabrina protested quickly. "But I… didn't want you to have to fight if you didn't want to, Mewtwo."

" _Thank you, Sabrina,"_ Mewtwo said, smiling down at her. " _That is very kind of you. But I was not the only person who fought here though I did not want to, because I was needed. I think I made a difference. I am not sure. I broke the red chains, which is what I was called here to do, but I am unsure if that made things better or worse. None of the Pokémon, not even the Fire_ _L_ _ord, know whether the humans trapped in the other world will return alive, and the only human left is uncon…_ " He trailed off, looking up over his shoulder sharply.

"What human? Who is here? Who was taken?" Gardenia asked sharply.

" _Saylee Pryce, Blue Oak, and many others I do not know were taken,_ " Mewtwo said vaguely, holding out a hand. " _More humans have arrived, and they are… strange._ " Erika checked that Tafotila's guarding vines were still around hers, Gardenia and Erika's waists before taking Mewtwo's hand, allowing him to teleport all of them.

They didn't go far; they appeared to have simply moved to the far side of the plaza, to a different stretch of broken columns and stained snow, but there were humans in sight this time; four of them, adults, all wearing shapeless grey hoodies and loose trousers to make their features hard to discern.

"—started before they'd even released the Red Chains," one of them was saying quietly to the others as Mewtwo materialized.

"So just by setting foot in the—what?!" another yelped, noticing the new onlookers and whipping around. Her hood slipped as she did, and while she grabbed it quickly, they caught a flash of bright blonde hair before she pulled the hood down to hide her eyes, making only a bronzed chin visible. Another one of the four imitated her, pulling their own hood lower, while the third didn't turn around and the fourth just sighed loudly and flipped his own hood off, revealing more bronze, blond and a pair of bright eyes that flickered between different shades of blue.

"What?" he said defensively when the other three turned to him. "We're kinda busted anyway, don't know if you noticed. That's _Mewtwo._ And I'm pretty sure that girl there's Sabrina… wow, she was _hot_ when she was young."

"That's not—I mean, not that he's wrong," the imitator said quickly, turning Sabrina's way briefly, "but come _on_! This is why we didn't want to bring you, R—" She cut herself off sharply. The blond guy rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" Gardenia demanded. "Are you Galactic?"

"What? Oh my god, _no,_ " R gasped. "That is actually the worst thing anybody has ever said to me, and it's not even _true._ _Ew._ Is it because of the grey? Because if so, I will never wear grey _ever_ again. I mean _ever._ "

"We're just here to observe," the first one said, still holding her hood over her face. "We needed to see what happened when Cyrus attempted to unmake the world first-hand."

"Wait, Cyrus tried to _what_?" Gardenia gasped.

"What do you mean 'first-hand'?" Erika asked suspiciously. "Did you know what Cyrus intended to do? How did you—"

"We came here from the future," R said with a shrug.

" _Ray_!" the blonde and her imitator said in unison. The fourth one, who had yet to speak, just sighed.

"What? I _hate_ all this vague shit," Ray grumbled. "We can tell them we're from the future without telling them anything _about_ the future, y'know."

"It is pleasant to know that there will _be_ a future," Sabrina said lightly. Ray and the imitator both laughed. "But you are saying that these events will repeat themselves someday?"

Ray shrugged and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the other blonde said, "we can't tell you, we're not _going_ to tell you, and we've seen what we need to see so _we're going now._ " She grabbed the arms of the other two and looked to the silent fourth, who stood up and reached out to the other three.

" _May I ask… what_ are _you?"_ Mewtwo asked. " _You are… like those other humans… human but not human…_ "

"That's exactly what we are," the other blonde said, clapping her hand over Ray's mouth.

"And that's all for today," the other woman said with a little bow. "Pleasure to have met you!"

"Hey, wait!" Gardenia demanded, starting forwards before flinging an arm up over her eyes against a flash of brilliant green light.

When the light died down, the four strangers were gone.

"…Am I gonna understand _anything_ that happens today?" Gardenia moaned in despair.

{}

{}

 _August is such an absurd month. In the last seven days I've worked six, seen seven shows (all of which were good? What kind of Fringe is this where I don't see one thing that's hilariously shit), and been to the movies three times, once to see_ Suicide Squad ( _better than expected) and twice to see_ Ghostbusters ( _I AM SO INEXPRESSABLY HAPPY THAT THIS MOVIE EXISTS AND IS AS GOOD AS IT IS). I think I've had more drinks than I've had hours of sleep. That is not responsible for how strange shit is getting in this and upcoming chapters, though :P_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **CYNTHIA**_

 _Godiva the Garchomp, Titania the Togekiss, Lewin the Lucario, Mira the Milotic, Senka the Spiritomb, Raisa the Roserade_

 _ **LOOKER**_

 _Donna the Deino, Amy the Aggron, Rory the Lucario, Grace the Arcanine, Ace the Azumarill_


	50. Chapter 49

_{?}_

 _{?}_

Barry blinked his eyes open, staring around in some confusion. _Where am I?_ he wondered, watching a waterfall next to him flow. It looked like it was flowing towards the ceiling. _I'm upside-down, right?_ He thought, trying to wiggle his arms and legs to figure out how he was hanging upside-down. Everything felt weird and he glanced over at his arms, trying to see why they felt so-

His arms were flat flaps of grey. They didn't even have elbows; they seemed to bend anywhere he wanted them to, and at the end had only a single thumb protruding from it. The rest of his body was squat and round and also grey, with short, flat feet simply sticking out of his abdomen without any legs. Feeling an odd sensation from his butt, he looked around to see two long, flat tails floating behind him, little dots of red at their ends.

He flipped around in the air, squeaking in surprise. His head felt heavy and oddly shaped.

" _Feels weird, doesn't it? But I got used to your body quite quickly. I'm sure you'll get used to mine in no time. And for the record, there_ is _no 'up' here, so don't worry which way you or the waterfall are facing."_

"Y-You're… who… what?" Barry mumbled, patting at his head with his short arms. It had large, flat planes to it. He was indeed floating in midair, and found that he was able to fly over to the waterfall as soon as he willed it, though he couldn't see his reflection in the rapidly rushing water. "Wait… my body? You were in my body? Are you… Azelf?"

" _I am. If you don't mind, I will drive. I am more familiar with this body and this realm."_ It felt a little odd, flying along in a body that he wasn't controlling, but Barry was distracted enough by the strange sights whizzing past; flowers growing in and out of the ground, land floating in space facing every which way, waterfalls in many directions…

"What happened to Dawn and Lou?" he asked. "And everybody else?"

" _All scattered when we entered this realm, I am sure,"_ Azelf responded. " _Those of us with Pokemon forms have reverted to them. Those without will likely have been transformed somehow. This place is not inaccessible to humans, and indeed all humans find their way here sooner or later, but it was not made for your kind."_

"What the hell _is_ this place, though?" Barry asked in frustration. His voice wasn't leaving his mouth, but Azelf was hearing him anyway. "Where _are_ we?"

He felt a sudden thrill of fear and Azelf darted into what looked like grass, only to have flowers spring up all around them, hiding them from a huge shadow that passed overhead.

" _We are in Giratina's realm,"_ Azelf responded, even their thoughts a whisper as a huge, red-edged shadow of black and gold began to slowly move past them. " _We are in the Reverse. And we must find the other avatars before it is too late."_

{}

Even with her eyes closed, her head was spinning. She tried to put her hands to her head to hold it still, but it was hard-her arms were too short to reach. She curled up as best she could, tucking her chin into her chest and wrapping her tail around herself…

Something felt _off_ , but she couldn't quite figure out what. She slowly cracked her eyes open, wincing at the first intrusion of light before she could acclimatize herself. She could see trees above her, though the ground around her was dirt. She reached out with her paws to steady herself as she tried to stand up. It was awkward; her whole body felt balanced wrong. She had to really focus to hold her tail off the ground, vaguely aware that snuffing out the flame on the end of her tail in the dirt would be a bad idea. Her paws were awfully short, making it difficult to balance herself, and her own skin was such a blindingly bright orange that it almost hurt to look at.

 _What... what…._ what?! she thought, craning around to stare at her tail again and overbalancing herself enough to fall over. _Tail. I have a_ tail. _A tail that's on_ fire. _I'm_ orange. _Am I a_ CHARMANDER _?! How?! Why?! What the fuck?!_

She lay on her stomach for a long moment, staring ahead of her, trying to focus on literally anything but her suddenly altered form and the awkward sensation of trying to find a comfortable way to hold her tail. _Trees… I see trees. I'm in a forest. Okay. I'm in a forest. I'm in a forest and I'm a Charmander. The sky above's kinda purple… evening? Or predawn, maybe? I don't see any stars. Don't see a sun either, though. No shadows except those cast by my… my… mytailflame. Okay. I'm in a forest. I don't know where. Those look like elm trees… do you get those in Sinnoh? I've only really noticed pines…_

She sat up slowly, trying to look through the trees around herself, but only darkness encroached on every side. She couldn't see anything but the trees closest to her, and nor could she hear anything. _Why is this forest so_ quiet _?_ she wondered. _No wind in the trees, no sounds of Pokemon…_ other _Pokemon… I can't be the only one here, can I? Where even_ is _here?_

She closed her eyes and pressed her tiny paws to them as she tried to _think._ _We were… on Mt Coronet… fighting Galactic… Cyrus had Dialga and Palkia by the Red Chains, but Mewtwo broke them… there was that black light, and… and…_

"This had better not be a fucking _pocket dimension_ ," she growled, looking up and around again. As if on cue, the earth shook violently beneath her.

She rolled across the ground, tucking her tail between her legs and her tailflame against her belly so she could shield it with her body. She wasn't sure if she was really a Charmander or not, but she did _not_ want to test it by letting her tailflame snuff out. Besides, even when burning against her belly, the flame didn't hurt at all. It was pleasantly warm and slightly ticklish.

When the shaking finally stopped, she got unsteadily to her feet, bracing herself against a tree. Then, lacking anything better to do, she set off between the trees, her tail bobbing behind her as the only light in the darkness.

{}

"This was a mistake," Raikou growled, nervously pawing at their ears. "We shouldn't have come back here. Not even for Master."

"What's done is done," Suicune said serenely. "All we can do now is try and find Master."

"We should find those other avatars that we promised to look after first," Entei interjected. "Master told us to. And we need to be careful that Giratina doesn't find us." The three of them shuddered in unison. "They will no doubt want retribution for what happened before…"

"Will Giratina want retribution on _us_?" Raikou asked. "It was Master who came here to resurrect us, after all."

"Giratina is not famous for their calm nature and kind disposition," Suicune pointed out. " _All_ of us who have trespassed from the realm of the living will be endangered if they find us."

"But Master in particular," Entei decided, straightening up. "We should go-" They paused suddenly. All three of the Beasts felt their fur stand on end.

They managed to shrink back under a rock formation just before a shadow swooped overhead, glowing darkly and smelling strongly of rage. It lingered for an uncomfortably long time before finally, blessedly moving on.

"It didn't find us," Suicune sighed in relief.

"But I'm sure it knew we were here," Raikou said nervously.

"Let's go," Entei said, darting out of the rocks. "I can't smell a damn thing in this place. Keep a sharp eye out."

They took off running in the opposite direction from where Giratina had gone, feeling some comfort by putting distance between themselves and the dark god, even knowing how little direction meant in the Reverse.

{}

"HELLOOOOOO! ANYBODY UP THERE?! _ANYWHERE?!"_

She froze momentarily at the sound of the shout, breath catching. _Was that-?_

"HELLLLOOOOOOOO!"

"BLUE!" she yelled, running off through the trees after the shout. She found that she could take to four paws as easily as two, and after a moment's lack of coordination she managed quite a rate of speed through the dark trees. She barely braked in time to keep herself from falling into a huge ravine-a fresh-looking split in the earth with newly-uprooted trees dangling across or into it, likely ripped open by the earthquake. "Blue, is that you?" she yelled into the ravine.

"Holy-Saylee?!" Blue yelled up. She couldn't see the bottom, even when dangling her tail over the edge, but it was definitely his voice. "Saylee! Do you know what the hell's going on?"

"Not even a little!" Saylee called down. "I think I'm a Charmander now, though!"

"Right, so that fire's you! Hey, can you hold that as far down as you dare?" Blue yelled. "I've been stuck down here because I can't see a goddamn thing and I can't control these vines well enough to feel out a way up-I don't know what the f-what I am, but I've got vines and it's so weird I wasn't even that surprised when you said you're a Charmander now!"

Saylee stretched out her tail into the ravine, illuminating as much as she could. After a moment, two thin green vines stretched out of the darkness, snaking around the roots of an exposed tree.

"Great! Fantastic! Hold on, kid… I've also got a Caterpie!" he called up. "Hang on tight to me, kid, okay? Here we GO!"

Saylee watched in surprise as whatever Blue was now slowly emerged from the darkness as he reeled himself in by his vines. He let one go from the tree roots once he was close enough and swung it up towards Saylee, who moved her tail out of the way and grabbed the vine, using it to pull him and the Caterpie clinging to his back out of the ravine. Blue was barely bigger than the Caterpie, thin and green with a white belly and gold leaf along his back and around his eyes. He had a large head with a long snout and a large, flat green tail, but arms and legs so tiny that they were barely there. "Okay, I give in," Saylee said with a shrug, letting his vine go as soon as he was up. "What are you?"

"Wish I knew," he said, plucking the Caterpie off his back and setting them on the ground. "Here you go, kid."

"Thank you!" the Caterpie said happily, hurrying up to hug Saylee. "Ooooh, you're _warm_!" the little bug-type giggled, insistently crawling into Saylee's tiny arms.

"I woke up like this," Blue said, gesturing down to himself. "When I was wandering looking for people, there was an earthquake, and the ground just opened up and I fell in. I tried following the bottom of that ravine for a while, and found that kid stuck at the dead-end here. Do you have any idea what the hell happened?"

"Not really, just that it was something to do with whatever that black light at the peak of Mt Coronet was," Saylee said, shaking her head and adjusting her grip on the baby Caterpie. "I haven't been able to find anybody else, just trees and that one earthquake. But if you're here too, then maybe some of the others who were on the peak are here too?"

"Who was up there…" Blue said, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. "Mewtwo, Key, Archie, Cynthia… Looker… Lance? Yeah, Lance…"

"I hope Steven Stone's here, because if I had anything on me I'd bet cash money that he knows what's going on," Saylee grumbled. "Hey, sweetie?" she said, looking at the Caterpie. "What's your name? Where's your home?"

"Serena," the Caterpie mumbled sleepily. "An' I came from… that way." She waggled her tail in the direction she wanted them to go, though without any sun or stars Saylee hadn't the faintest idea what direction that actually _was_.

"Well, if we take her home, maybe there'll be some other Pokemon we can ask," Blue said with a shrug. "For lack of anything better to do… shall we?"

"Hey, mister Blue?" Serena asked as they set off. "How come your name's Blue when you're green?"

"Because it's my name," Blue said, rolling his eyes. "Now go to sleep and we'll take you home."

{}

"What about this?" Silver said, turning into a Grovyle. It had taken him a while to get the hang of the fact that he could shapeshift at _all_ , but it wasn't actually difficult; all he had to do was focus on a form and, in an instant, that was what he was. If he didn't focus on that Pokemon, however, he tended to revert back to Ho-oh's form, so he concentrated hard on being a Grovyle.

" _Good idea,_ " Ho-oh thought approvingly. " _This part of the Reverse World is mostly forest. We'll be mobile and hard to spot, and most of Giratina's helpers and the others here won't be able to recognize us._ "

"What about Giratina?" Silver asked, practising jumping from one tree to another. Waking up in the form of a gigantic rainbow bird had been a huge adjustment, but at least Grovyle were broadly the same shape as a human, which was the one form it seemed he _couldn't_ take. Ho-oh had almost immediately suggested shapeshifting into something less conspicuous.

" _Giratina will recognize us no matter what. It'll be better if they don't, trust me._ "

Silver snickered. "Still pissed off about the stunt you pulled with the Beasts, huh?" he said. "Pretty cool, actually. Kudos."

" _Thank you_ ," Ho-oh said quietly. " _Giratina does not forgive. They have kept their grudge against Arceus for longer than I can say. We must avoid them at all costs while we go about our mission._ "

"And what _is_ our-what the _fuck_!" Silver yelped, clinging tightly to the tree he was on as space warped around him. He had no idea how long it lasted, before physicality settled around him and the world stopped being a kaleidoscope.

" _Deal with that,_ " Ho-oh said grimly. " _Hurry. I know where to go, and so do you. We may have much time, and we may have none. Here, they might as well be one and the same._ "

"Poetic way of saying this place is _fucked up_ ," Silver grumbled, leaping off between the trees again.

{}

{}

 _Can you tell that this part of the fic's going to be weird? This part of the fic's going to be_ so _weird. We've semi-merged the Reverse with something from elsewhere in the Pokemon 'verse, for conceptual reasons that will hopefully be clear in time. For now… hope the weirdness is entertaining XD_

 _(And yeah, I'm aware that both the catch/death stats and team listings are missing from this chapter. Do you want them back, or do you think that their absence is appropriate to this section?)_


	51. Chapter 50

_{?}_

 _{?}_

"Is this what it's like, having an avatar?" Dawn asked as she flew through the strange space, looking for her brother and best friend. "Like being a passenger in a strange body?"

" _Yes and no_ ," Uxie responded. " _Our senses are far greater than yours, and we are not quite so confined to our physical forms. It is more as if… being tied to an anchor._ "

"Oh, no… you mean we drag you down?" Dawn asked in dismay.

" _Ah, no, that is not at all what I meant,_ " Uxie said quickly. " _I expressed myself poorly. We still have our infinite senses, but now we are… not so much more bound as more_ connected _to this world. For the first time, we can see it through a mortal experience, and it is…_ new _. I know some were afraid of tying themselves to a mortal, some feel it unnecessary… I cannot speak for all gods, but as a creature of Knowledge, I am enjoying this immensely!_ " Dawn felt her head move as Uxie looked around, saw the strange, gravityless, directionless world that they were in whizz past their eyes. " _Well… not so much the part where we are here, in Giratina's realm._ "

"Why is Giratina-Lou!" Dawn cried out, feeling the tug at the edge of her mind grow abruptly stronger, drawing her to a floating rock where she could see the sprawled pink-and-grey figure of Mesprit, her brother's God. "Lou, wake up! Is this why he hasn't been speaking?"

" _You found Lou?_ " she distantly heard Barry think. " _Stay with him, I'm on my way!_ "

" _They're just unconscious,_ " Uxie promised as they flitted down next to Mesprit. " _Time is strange here. They may not have been asleep for long. We must wait for them to wake._ " Dawn laid a gentle paw on Mesprit's forehead, feeling them breathing slowly but steadily.

" _I see you!_ " Barry thought. " _Grab Lou and get ready to fly, Giratina's coming this way and we need to find somewhere to hide_!"

" _Oh,_ no," Uxie thought, immediately reaching for Mesprit and starting to pull them into the air. Azelf flew up to them in a bright blue flash, helping to support their unconscious third. " _Head for that field! We can hide under the flowers_!"

"I don't see any-oh," Dawn gasped as they flew over to the grass and saw flowers grow rapidly out of them as they approached. "How…?"

" _You could say that there's a bubble of time around it, if that weren't completely wrong and unrepresentative of what it actually is,_ " Uxie explained. " _Time around the flowers moves as we move past it, take it like that."_ They crouched down under the broad, colourful petals, which didn't cover them entirely but did at least allow their own brightly-coloured heads to blend in.

" _Why's Giratina so damn pissy?_ " Barry wanted to know, even managing to _think_ in whispers as the massive shadow approached.

" _Right now? Giratina is enraged by the incursions into their realm,_ " Uxie responded. " _But Giratina has always been a creature of rage."_

"Are the old stories true, then?" Dawn asked curiously. "That when Arceus was young and the world was new, they made Giratina to help them rule, but Giratina thought they were more powerful and tried to destroy Arceus and rule alone, but Arceus was actually more powerful the whole time and made a hidden world to trap Giratina in?" She gestured up to the black-and-red shadow that was taking an uncomfortably long time to pass overhead.

" _Perhaps,_ " Uxie said. " _All of this took place in very ancient times, long before the three of us were made. Loathe though I am to admit it, I do not know. It may be true._ "

" _Uxie's spoken to many gods to try and find out who knows the truth,_ " Azelf added in a voice that sounded to Dawn very much like Barry's, but slower, " _but none know. They all say it was before their time._ "

" _I haven't dared ask Lord Arceus,_ " Uxie sighed, " _and we are only lesser gods. I cannot reach Dialga or Palkia, some of the oldest gods, to ask._ "

" _But Dialga and Palkia were up there on the peak of Mt Coronet!"_ Barry said excitedly. " _They might be in here somewhere! We can find 'em and ask 'em!_ "

" _?_ " Lucas thought muzzily. Dawn and Barry looked down with grins as he opened his eyes and looked up, just as the shadow finally passed over them.

"Never mind," Dawn said. "We've got more important things to do than track gods down to ask them to tell us stories. Lou, how do you feel?"

They felt an echo of a headache, confusion, surprise emanating from Lucas and Mesprit as they opened their eyes and looked around, Mesprit recognizing where they were and expressing a need to _leave_.

"We need to find the way out," Dawn declared. "There is one, isn't there?"

" _The way we came in may still be open, somewhere,_ " Uxie confirmed. " _If we can find it, we can then find the others and leave._ "

" _What if we can't find it?_ " Barry asked.

" _If we can't find it, our only way out is through Giratina's benevolence,_ " Mesprit put in, " _and that's not a trait that Giratina is known for._ "

From Lucas came the image of the three of them flying off in different direction, still linked in their minds wherever they were.

" _That will be more effective than searching together,_ " Azelf agreed. " _The three of you want to stay together, but you are always together even when you apart, understand? You will always have each others' strength._ "

" _Space means so little here, anyway,"_ Uxie added. " _We might fly apart for hours and be able to find each other in an instant when needed._ "

Dawn reached out one paw to her brother and the other to her best friend. The three of them touched paws briefly, sharing their thoughts, feelings and will.

Then they flew apart, searching the Reverse for the way out.

{}

He watched the ground break apart at the edges, gently floating into the purple void. When the stream hit the new edge, it seemed to fall upwards.

 _This is too fast,_ he thought. _This isn't breaking apart naturally. This world shouldn't even be starting to break apart, not like this, unless…_

In an instant, he was elsewhere, counting. _No, some of them are missing_ , he realized. _How? Who could have taken them? They couldn't just vanish on their own…_

He watched and waited, feeling his heart sink when the shadows appeared. _No… it can't be._ Him? _Of all people to gain_ this _power in the Reverse…_

Part of him wanted to just reach out and _destroy_ them. He _could_. It would be _so easy,_ and then they'd be nothing. But… _no. That's the last resort. Otherwise all of this might as well be nothing…_

 _I have to have faith in them to stop him. They've always come through in the end before. I just have to watch over them, and have faith._

{}

" _This_ is where you live?" Saylee said in surprise as the trees thinned out and they found themselves in a small village. The buildings were all odd, in all sorts of designs and many of them looking like Pokemon.

"Where the hell is this?" Blue wondered, watching a Rhydon stomp out of a huge grey house in the shape of its horn. "Are we still in Sinnoh?"

"Nuh-uh! This is the Reverse," Serena said, looking around. "Oh! Mommy!" She wriggled out of Saylee's arms and crawled towards a Butterfree, who turned and swept up her baby with a happy cry.

"I don't see any humans," Blue said, looking around. "Did the Pokemon all build these? And what's the Reverse?"

"There's a Sinnoh story about a world on the other side of our own," Saylee recalled, trying to recall the stories she'd read in the Canalave Library. "There's loads of different stories about what it is, or how to get to it, but they're all tied up with Giratina, who's meant to be either this world's god or its prisoner, or maybe both."

"Wait, back up," Blue protested. "We're in another world?"

"Yes," Saylee sighed.

"You mean," Blue said, sounding absolutely appalled, "we're in another _fucking pocket dimension?_ "

"I think it's a bit bigger and better organized than that, thankfully," Saylee said, making a face and then smiling again as Serena's mother fluttered over to them with Serena swinging from her feet. "Hi! Are you Serena's mum?"

"I am," she said, smiling down at her daughter. "Thank you _so_ much for helping her! Are you Rescuers?"

"Yeah, we rescued… wait, you said that like a name," Blue said, raising an eyebrow, which was distinctly noticeable on his new form. "Are Rescuers a thing?"

"If you aren't, you might want to think about becoming a team," the mother said brightly. "With all the strange disasters lately, I'm sure we need as many as possible." She gestured to the building that she'd been in front of when Serena had called out to her. It was a round, purple structure with a pink-and-yellow dome on top. "I was just about to ask the team that lives there to go find Serena-perhaps you could ask them if you could join?"

"We're not going to be staying here," Saylee assured her.

"Well, none of us are, are we?" the mother chuckled. "I can't thank you enough for bringing Serena back to me, though. I was so scared that… well. I'd better take her home. Can't waste our time together, can I?"

"Thank you!" Serena called, waving her tail at Saylee and Blue as her mother flew off, her baby dangling from her feet.

"See, there were words I knew in that conversation," Blue said, folding his tiny arms, "but something about the order just lost me."

"Nobody stays…?" Saylee said with a frown. "What'd she mean by that…?"

"Maybe we should ask those 'Rescuers' she was talking about?" Blue suggested, gesturing to the purple house. "Maybe they know what's up with the earthquakes and what the fuck we're doing here."

"And how to _leave_ ," Saylee agreed. "She made it sound like people leave here a lot, so maybe they know."

As they walked up the path to the building, they noted that the windows were large but the door itself was quite small, slightly shorter than Saylee and quite thin. Saylee knocked on the door, staring at it and wondering how she was going to go through it if they got invited inside.

The door's size was explained when an Ekans opened the door, tail curled around the doorknob. "Hello!" she said brightly. "Can I help you?"

"Hi, we were told that some Rescuers live here?" Saylee asked. "We just got here, and we're a bit confused, and we thought maybe you could help us…?"

"Just got here? Oh, you poor things!" the Ekans gasped. "Come in and have some berries. I'm sure you're still quite shocked. I'll just go around and open the window for you…"

She closed the door and a moment later a thin purple tail pushed one of the large windows by the door open. "Thank you," Saylee said, watching the Ekans as she climbed through. "Sorry, but have we met before? I feel like I've heard your voice before…"

"Maybe we have, back on the other side, though I don't remember knowing a Charmander," the Ekans said, tipping her head thoughtfully. "A Charmeleon, but no Charmanders. My name's Eliza, though. What's yours?"

Saylee gasped sharply. "Eliza?" she asked, gaping. " _Eliza_? Is that _you_?"

"Saylee, are you okay?" Blue asked, backing away slightly. "Your tail's kinda, uh, freaking out-"

"Wait, _Saylee_?" Eliza said, her eyes widening. Her voice sent a jolt through Saylee, memories flooding in of the little Ekans she'd had for a few days years ago. " _My trainer_ Saylee? I didn't recognize you! Oh my-"

" _Doll_?"

Saylee looked up. The dome above them was open in the middle, leaving a gap wide enough for a large flying Pokemon to fly in and out. Then the light was blocked as a Pidgeot swooped down from a perch near the ceiling, peering closely at Saylee.

"Damn, Doll," Pedro breathed. "What the hell are you doing _here_?"

{}

{}

 _Sorry this was a day late again. I'm glad this weekend was the last weekend of the Fringe-I saw a lot of great shows, but it'll be nice to just go home after work._

 _Eliza was a member of Saylee's team during Chapter 7 of_ After Armageddon _before being killed by Blue's Squirtle, Sam_. _Pedro was a member of Saylee's team for basically all of_ After Armageddon _before being killed by Bruno's Machamp_. _I missed him like hell and I'm pretty jazzed about having an excuse to write him again :D_

 _Speaking of the dead… the day Alan Rickman died, I called my best friend to see if she was okay, because he'd been her first celebrity crush and she'd pretty much been in love with him for years. That was how I found out that Gene Wilder died-she called to see if I was okay. I'm heartbroken. I loved that man before I really understood most of the movies I saw him in (first saw_ Blazing Saddles _when I was 8 and understood so little of it, but laughed my head off the whole way through anyway). He had so much wit and charm and such an endearing smile, and I'm glad that all of these are preserved forever in his films… which I probably need to go on a marathon of right now so I can laugh again._


	52. Chapter 51

{ _?_ }

{ _The Reverse_ }

 _Well, this is pretty_ , Key thought, walking through the grass towards the waterfalls she could see in the distance, at the base of which she'd been told she would find Whiscash. She was amazed by the smell of the grass; grass had always _had_ a smell, of course, especially after it had been cut, but now there was a whole new world of rich, complex scents that were telling her about the health and age and history of the grass and the flowers blooming around her. She could even tell which flowers were related to each other.

It helped distract her from the weirdness of walking on all fours, being so small that her chin practically scraped off the ground, and having a heavy bud growing from her back.

"HOW DID I _WHAT?!_ "

 _Is that… Archie_? Key realized, trying to run towards the waterline and almost immediately stumbling over her own tiny, stubby legs. She started scurrying as fast as she could towards the source of the panicked shouting. As she grew closer, she caught sight of a large, dark blue Pokemon leaning out of the water, using a fin to pat a tiny white-and-light-blue figure that was sitting in a dejected slump.

"Don't despair, laddie," the Whiscash was saying gently. "It does take some folk by surprise. But there's no going back now. You've got all the time you need to come to terms with it…"

"Hello?" Key said tentatively, stumbling up to the pair. "Ummm…"

The white-and-blue Pokemon looked around. It had round, shiny black eyes and had some kind of scallop shell stuck to its chest. "Hello there, lassie," the Whiscash said gently. "Are you new here?"

"Yes, I am," Key said. The blue-and-white Pokemon squeaked.

" _Key?"_ it exclaimed loudly.

"... _Archie?_ " she asked, head spinning with the realization that no, really, the former Aqua Leader _was_ now some kind of weird little water-type. "I thought I heard your voice, but I didn't think… what _are_ you?"

"Key! Oh gods, Key, you're here too?!" he cried. "And a… a Bulbasaur… you're a… okay. It's not just me. Is that good? Never mind. Key, did you see any of the others? Do you know who else-?"

"I don't even know where _here_ is," Key said, looking around. Archie's expression dropped even more, if that was possible. "Archie…? What's going on?"

"Ahhh… I suppose it must have been quite the disaster, whatever happened, eh?" the old Whiscash tutted. "I'm sorry, lassie. Your friend's still coming to terms with it, so I might as well tell you. This place is… a waystation of sorts, you could say. A waiting place, until it's time for you to go back."

"Go back… _where_?" Key asked slowly. She didn't want to ask. She didn't want the answer. But she needed to know. Not knowing for sure was so much worse.

"The living world, lassie," the Whiscash said gently, apologetically. "If you're here, that means you're dead. I'm sorry, lassie. If you didn't know, I guess at least it was swift and painless, eh?"

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Cyrus got sucked in first," Blue growled, pacing back and forth. "That son of a bitch is here somewhere too. Is there a Hell section here, or is it forests and villages and shit? Because if there isn't a Hell, I'm going to go fucking _make_ one."

"Whaddya mean, _sucked in_?" Pedro said in concern. "Doll… what the hell _happened_ to ya? I mean, aside from… the obvious…" He gestured broadly with a wing.

A vague thought drifted through the overwhelmed buzz in Saylee's brain that she would've expected her late Pidgeot's plumage to be flawless and smooth, but his feathers were just as torn and scruffy as she remembered; his crest was still short and burned at the end, as it had been ever since Cinnabar. She looked down at herself, really paying attention to how she looked now beyond the fact that she was a colour and shape that she'd never planned on being. Her eyesight, at least, had sharpened, allowing her to see clearly without glasses, and the first thing she noticed was that the burn scars on her right shoulder and upper arm were gone-she couldn't see her back, but waggling her tail a little made the skin and muscles of her back flex, and she couldn't feel any of the knots or tightness she associated with those scars. _Can fire-types even burn?_ she wondered, one hand going to her hip and feeling the indents left by Teddy's claws. There was no burning around them, only the rough claw-marks themselves.

She wondered what it meant, since if she really was-the white noise in her brain flared up, keeping her from even _thinking_ the word. Blue was still pacing and shouting about everything he was going to do with Cyrus when he found him.

"How're you taking it?" Eliza said gently, curling her tail lightly around Saylee's shoulders. "I guess you didn't see it coming, huh?"

"No… not really," Saylee muttered, wrapping her short arms around herself as much as she could.

"Well, you've wound up in the good bit, I promise," Eliza reassured her. "I mean, there's no way of knowing how big this world is. If you go too far off into the forests, you wind up at a sort of… _edge._ And you can see other places out there, other sort of islands floating around with forests and deserts and icebergs and all sorts… there might be a Hell out there, and if he is, I'm sure whoever your friend's so angry about is…"

Blue paused abruptly, rant trailing off as he looked at Eliza. "Eliza… you were Saylee's Ekans," he said slowly.

"Rememberin' now, are ya?" Pedro said sharply. "You an' that Sam of yers killed 'er."

"It was an a-" Blue closed his eyes, sighing and shaking his head. "I'm sorry. Don't suppose it makes a damn bit of difference if it was an accident or not when you're dead, does it? But I really am truly sorry. "

"I grew up in Kanto, same as you," Eliza reminded him. She hugged Saylee again. "Accidents and murders happen every day. I got a few happy days and I got a nice cremation instead of getting eaten. It's more than I expected out of life, really, so I won't complain."

"You coulda had more if it weren't fer him," Pedro grumbled.

"Would've had less if it weren't for you," Eliza said with a smile. She scowled. "You were the one who was really _doing_ things with your life, until that damn Bruno-!"

"For what it's worth, I've kicked his ass twice," Saylee offered. "The second time with another Pidgeot I trained. Peggy. She _destroyed_ him."

Pedro smirked. It squeezed Saylee's heart to see that smirk again-birds had beaks, not movable mouths, but the way his chin tilted and his eyes crinkled looked like the _smuggest_ smirk she'd ever seen. "Yeah, met her and her man when they crossed over, pretty close together, I'm guessin'. Met most've yer other 'mons you've trained, actually, Doll. Most've 'em've moved on already, but I decided I'm waitin' fer my bro Chaz before I'm goin' anywheres. Now THAT'S a guy who's really doin' somethin' with 'is life, eh?"

"Yeah," Saylee laughed shakily, looking down at herself, remembering the first day she'd met Chaz, when he was small enough for even her to carry in one arm. She'd met Pedro less than a day after, when he'd been little enough to perch on her other shoulder. That was how they'd travelled for a while, the two of them bickering across Saylee's shoulders between wild battles that were scrappy and rough, the trainer as inexperienced as her Pokemon...

"I decided to wait here too," Eliza added. "After all, I didn't get that much time with any of you when I was alive… and time doesn't mean much here anyway. Neither does space, really. I said that you can sort of see islands, like, _floating_ …" She waved her tail in the air, trying to trace out intangible concepts. "But if you want to go to them, you can sort of… find a way there. Things hold together in places like this only because people want them to, really, I think. I mean, we're _dead_. We don't have to have bodies or houses or _anything_ , but… seems like something in people holds together better if we do. For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever met anybody around here who was more than slightly an asshole." Blue ducked his head, unable to meet her gaze. "So if the guy who got you killed was all that bad… he probably is somewhere else. There probably is a somewhere else for people like that out here somewhere."

"I mean, we've met other humans 'round here before-humans all seem ta get turned inta Pokemon here," Pedro added. "Damned if I know why. Probably the big guy's business, that."

"The big guy…?" Blue asked uneasily.

Pedro nodded, eyes flickering upwards. "Giratina," he said darkly. "Big, tough an' angry, so everyone says. Never really seen 'em, but supposedly they're the one runnin' the show-the one in charge a' bringin' dead souls through an' sendin' 'em back. And keepin' this place, fer lack've a better term, holdin' together."

"Except it isn't really holding together," Eliza said in concern. "All these earthquakes… the edges seem to be getting closer. Things are falling apart and we don't know why."

"But we're thinkin' of goin' ta find out," Pedro added. "A lot've folk like us that decide ta hang around fer a while, fer whatever reason, get called Rescuers-'cause we spend a lotta time helpin' out folks that're new or lost or whatever, I guess. Folk wind up lookin' up ta us ta look after 'em, and I ain't gonna shy away from that. We're about ta go info gatherin' ta try an' find out what's up. Ya wanna join us, Doll?" He leaned down to nuzzle Saylee's head with his beak. "If I know you, havin' somethin' ta do'll be good fer ya."

"Yeah," Saylee said, taking a deep, shaky breath. The fact of her own death was still too big to her to process yet. She couldn't bring herself to think about it, but an investigation, a job in front of her to work on… she could do that. "Blue? You up for it?"

"Why the hell not? Blue said with a shrug. "I've got rage to burn. What've we got to lose now?"

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Are you _absolutely sure_ that there's _no way_ we could get here other than being dead?" Key pressed.

"I understand that this is difficult to come to terms with," the Whiscash said gently. "It can take time to accept-"

"I'm just saying, the last thing I remember is a big pillar of black light sucking us all in," Key insisted.

"That killed us," Archie said mournfully.

"Ssssh, quiet time now," Key said, flapping a paw at him. "Pillar of black light with a freaky face in it and Unown flying all over the place. _Anything_ could happen there, couldn't it? Really _anything._ You hear stories about the Unown carrying people away to other dimensions, or warping spaces like that weird place in Solaceon. I don't know much about that kind of thing, though, I think Lee-Lee!" She hopped in place, grinning. "She's probably here somewhere too! And probably Blue, Cynthia, anybody else who was up there-Cyrus! I bet he's here somewhere, he's gotta know _something_ about what he did!"

"You know, I don't think that guy even _began_ to understand what he was really doing," Archie said, shaking his head.

"He'll have _ideas,_ at least, and if he doesn't we can at least kick his ass properly so he can't do anything else," Key promised. "Steven was up there, too. He knows _tons_ of weird stuff. He _is_ weird stuff, I'm pretty sure, from the way Lee looks at him."

"Well, everybody knows _that_ ," Archie said, rolling his eyes. "Steven Stone's been famously weird since _way_ back."

"If there's one thing I've learned since I met Lee, it's that there is a _ton_ of weird shit in the world that I don't know about, but that there is _always_ somebody who knows what's up, generally somebody cryptic and creepy," Key insisted. "Is there anybody like that around here?" she asked the Whiscash.

" _Everybody_ comes here, sooner or later," Whiscash said placidly. Key and Archie both gave him an exasperated look. "...Psychic types are those of great knowledge. Perhaps you ought to seek the counsel of the Xatu on the Hill of the Ancients. He's always watching the sunset up there."

"Didn't realize there was a sun here," Archie said, glancing up at the cloudless pale-blue sky.

"There isn't, but there is a lovely view of the sunset from that hill," Whiscash explained. "I hope you find peace and understanding there."

"So long as we find _something_ ," Key said, reaching out a paw to grab Archie's and tug him to his feet, frowning at the little green nub that was all she had now. She still felt an odd sensation of _reaching_ , though, and spotted a little bit of movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see what it was and realized that she'd extended a pair of vines from the bulb on her back. It felt _incredibly_ weird, but she could move them after some practice. "C'mon, then," she said, wrapping a vine around Archie's paw and pulling him to his feet, which wasn't all that much movement from sitting given how tiny his paws were. "You gonna sit here and cry or do you wanna come find out about weird stuff?"

"Fine, I'm coming," Archie said, actually chuckling a little. "Should've known _you_ wouldn't just lay down and die."

"Nope, and I don't intend to let you either," Key declared. "I came to Sinnoh to arrest you, after all. That means you're in my custody and I'm going to get your stupid ass back to Hoenn alive and well and in a world that still exists."

"You're arresting me too? You and Blue might have to flip a coin for it," Archie commented, following her off the dock. "Look after yourself, Whiscash."

The Whiscash sighed and shook his head, watching them go. _Young people always have such a hard time accepting their fates,_ he thought ruefully, _but then again, perhaps that's why they have the power to change it._

{}

{}

 _For the time being, the party rosters are going to look… a little different._

 _Pedro the Pidgeot, Eliza the Ekans, Saylee the Charmander, Blue the Snivy_

 _Key the Bulbasaur, Archie the Oshawott_

 _Dawn the Uxie, Lucas the Mesprit, Barry the Azelf_

 _Silver the Grovyle_


	53. Chapter 52

{ _The Reverse_ }

"So where even is the Hill of the Ancients, anyway?" Key asked as she and Archie walked through the trees.

"Maybe we should've asked the Whiscash before we left," Archie pointed out. "I don't know which way is west… or if there is a west. Maybe that doesn't matter. The sunset might not have to be in the west."

"This place is so weird," Key opined. "I don't think this forest is very big, though."

"Did you come through here on the way to Whiscash?" Archie asked. "That seems to be his actual name, by the way. When I introduced myself, he just said 'I'm Whiscash'. I got the impression he's been here a long time."

"Maybe… I haven't been through this forest, it's just… kind of a feeling," Key hedged. "Like there aren't that many trees around us. If they're real trees. I don't think they are."

"Pokemon have a lot of senses that we don't," Archie commented. "I don't know much about grass-types except for Lotad line, but they can smell water plants for food, even underwater where you wouldn't expect scents to be able to travel… I found that Whiscash because I was wandering lost and I could feel the presence of the water. Kind of. I don't know how to describe it. It wasn't a smell, really, but that's the closest way of saying how I knew the water was there. If _that's_ real. I get the feeling it isn't either. Water-types have described _knowing_ where bodies of water are, being able to smell if they're salt or fresh, being able to taste even the slightest bit of pollution in them, knowing where every other living thing in the water around them is… The elemental typings have always been based on key powers or forces of nature that Pokemon seem to connect to, but-"

"Okay, I get it, thanks for the dissertation," Key giggled. She was still waving her vines in the air, practicing reaching out with them, seeing how far she could extend them and how much she could feel with them. They were much, much stronger than she expected from such thin-looking vines, and weren't particularly sensitive, which probably made sense for appendages capable of smashing rocks, but it did mean that when she tried to gently reach out and touch a flower, just to see what it tasted like (she had absolutely _no_ idea how to mentally describe the feeling she got when she touched other plants aside from "taste"), she accidentally ripped it out of the ground. "Ooops… aww, I feel like a horrible person now," she complained, looking at the little yellow flower that was now draped over her vine, its roots dangling.

"Well, it isn't as if you've killed it," Archie pointed out, "since we're already-"

"Hush," Key said, tucking the flower behind her ear. She considered making a 'hush' gesture with her vines, but she didn't think she had enough control to avoid smacking him in the head, and since he was apparently now a water-type… _then again, how much damage could it really do if we_ are _already…? Probably shouldn't test that to find out._ "It'll do as a replacement for my hairpin. I've kinda gotten used to wearing that."

"Glad you like it," Archie said, ducking his head. "I know it's not a replacement for your Beautifly or… anything else…"

"Why did you get it for me?" Key asked. "You weren't responsible for Wanda's death or… well, _any_ of the Pokemon I lost. But I don't see you buying jewellery for Lee…" Archie choked. Key tried to pat him on the back with a vine, but she ended up knocking him over. "Whoops," she giggled, holding out the vine for him to pull himself back to his feet. "Sorry… don't know my own strength."

"Yeah… well…" Archie flapped his upper paws at himself to dust himself off. "I don't really know Saylee." He started walking again, ahead of Key so she couldn't see his face.

"But you know me?" Key asked. "You act like you do, anyway."

"Well… sort of," Archie said. "I guess you wouldn't remember… you were still pretty little the last time we met. Before the Oceanic Museum, I mean."

"You're right," Key said, shaking her head, "I absolutely do not remember. Sorry."

"Heh… well, it isn't like I recognized you straight away," Archie said, glancing over his shoulder at her. "But after Mt Chimney, I remembered where I'd seen you before, and you were giving me hell back then too. Actually… I guess you would've only been about five or six the first time we met."

"This sounds like the beginning of a really cheesy backstory," Key said, rolling her eyes. "A destined meeting, long ago…"

Archie laughed. "Nothing so serious. Back when my father was running Aqua, it was a legitimate environmental organization and he was always meeting gym leaders for their public support, which included your father a few times. Juan and I generally went with him. I remember you because none of the other leaders we were meeting with at the time had little kids, let alone as many as Norman did, but you were declaring yourself in charge of all the kids because it was your parents who ran the place, and you decided that I was a kid too because I was 'only fifteen'," Archie snorted. "I guess I got a little petulant about it because Juan and Tashigi would _not_ stop teasing me about it… any time we went back to Petalburg-which I guess wasn't that often, but still-they'd tease me about getting to play with 'the other kids'."

"Huh… I'd forgotten about that," Key said thoughtfully. "Though I don't really remember much of being a little kid. Did you ever meet my Ralts, Raphael?"

"Yeah, I remember _him_ ," Archie said, nodding. "Ralts are rare enough, but one with that coloration? Only saw him once, though…"

"Yeah… Well, when he died when I was seven, it hit me really badly," Key said, staring vaguely at her own vines as she practiced moving them around. "I don't just mean grieving, I mean… well, he was a psychic Pokemon, you know? One that forms a strong emotional bond with his trainer. When he died, that bond snapped, and it messed me up pretty bad."

"Yeah… that might explain… well, I still did that for a while after my dad died, when I took over Aqua," Archie explained. "It was kinda… not a great time. I was motivating myself to go around and talk to leaders partially because I wanted them on _my_ side, not Marc's, but it was painful, going around all these cities, half of which I'd only been to on my dad's publicity trips, on my own. Nearly broke down walking past a little store in Fortree that my dad liked to peek into to see if there was any interesting furniture, and going past the hot springs in Lavaridge… Dad loved talking about the mineral properties of the water. Always insisted that we spend a couple hours in the springs, for educational reasons, of course." He chuckled a little. "Petalburg, though, I thought that might be easier to handle because essentially getting roped into babysitting duties while my father talked to Norman was… well, obviously, it wasn't something I did with Dad. I was kinda looking forward to properly meeting Norman, and I guess a childish part of me wanted to show off that nope, I don't have to play with the kids now, I'm a _grown-up_ , I run a _whole organization._ "

"Yep, strutting in and announcing that you're officially a grownup now would've made you look _so_ mature," Key giggled.

Archie laughed. "Yeah, it was silly and childish, but… I thought it might be funny. I dunno. Coping mechanisms are weird things, y'know?" He shrugged. "I thought if I got to pretend it was fun for some kids for the afternoon, maybe it'd actually start feeling a little fun. But you weren't there, running around encouraging other kids to come play or jumping in on fights over toys or taking flowers to kids that looked sad… Norman said you were ill. I guess that was when your Ralts died, huh?"

"Yeah… I guess it would've been about that time," Key said, crunching the numbers in her head. "I just… huh. I really don't remember what it was like to live in Petalburg at all. I saw a lot of the kids who still lived there at school, so I still knew most of them growing up-the ones that were there long-term at all, anyway-but… I kinda wondered, sometimes, if Mom took me to Littleroot because she felt like I was being neglected or something among all the other kids they were caring for, but it sounds like I didn't really have a problem with it."

"Not at all," Archie laughed. "I wouldn't necessarily say you were lording it over the other kids or anything, but you definitely decided that it was your job to make sure all the other kids who wound up there were happy. And any strange kids who came to visit, too." He sighed. "Just seemed like another like blow in a year of everything being awful. There was that huge storm that blew Tashigi away, Dad died, Wallace got ill so Juan was looking after him instead of doing anything to help me, and even the cheerful kid in Petalburg was gone. Even the ice cream place in Rustboro that we'd always gone to stopped stocking my favourite flavour." He grimaced. "I feel like a big tragedy like a family death should make the little shit like that not matter so much, but it just feels like it piles up, like any little thing is a reminder that your life sucks and everything is awful. Damn near broke down crying in front of the ice cream store because they didn't have any fucking pecha-nanab, and I have no idea how I'd have explained it to anybody."

"Archie? I mean this in a friendly way," Key said slowly, "but it sounds like what you needed was a _lot_ of therapy, not an organization."

"I think a lot of people needed me to get a lot of therapy instead of an organization," Archie sighed.

"I know I saw a couple as a kid… obviously, my parents knew a lot of therapists for kids and teens," Key said, trying to shrug. It felt _very_ weird and messed up her ability to walk, so she stopped. "A lot of grief specialists, too. They probably could've hooked you up with somebody who could've helped."

"You know, I think your father tried, but…" Archie shook his head. "I should've taken him up on it. Too late for that now, I guess…"

"Ah-ah-ah! Stop being fatalistic or I'll thwack you again," Key threatened, scurrying up to walk alongside him again and waving her vines threateningly. "We don't know _definitely_ that we're dead. Weird shit happened on that mountain, that's all. Once we get out of here, I know the Hoenn penitentiary system has _plenty_ of people that'll be willing to talk you through all the things that make you accidentally end the world. First things first…" She gestured to the buildings that were starting to be visible through the trees. "We get back to our own reality."

"Heh… nice to know that you're still making it your mission to cheer people up," Archie chuckled.

"We've gotta stay positive, or else what's the point?" Key insisted. "Where there's life, there's… assuming we _are_ still alive. Which I'm going to and you can't stop me."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Archie assured her, staring up at the first building that they walked past as they came out of the trees. "...I've never seen a building that looks like a Kecleon before."

"That's… huh," Key said, tilting her head as she stared up at the large green-and-yellow building that was, indeed, shaped like a giant Kecleon. "Somebody _really_ likes Kecleon." There was a stall out front, but nobody standing at it; there was almost nobody around at all except a Slowpoke that was strolling down the road.

"Excuse me?" Key said, waving a vine to catch the Slowpoke's attention. "Ummm…?"

"Hi," the Slowpoke yawned. "You goin' to the Guild?"

"The… what?" Archie asked. "What guild?"

The Slowpoke blinked at him. "Oh… just got here, have you?" he said sadly. "Sorry to hear that. Maybe you should go to the Guild."

"What's the Guild?" Key pressed.

"Where lotsa people go… if they wanna look out for each other," the Slowpoke explained patiently. "If they're not ready to go back yet. But… they're calling everybody there now. Got news about what's going on. Why all the earthquakes and stuff are happening."

"Why earthquakes and stuff…?" Archie asked, but the Slowpoke was already plodding off.

"I think there was an earthquake just after I woke up," Key said thoughtfully. "But my head was spinning pretty badly, so I don't know. Hey!" she said, running up to plod alongside the Slowpoke. "So… earthquakes don't happen often here?"

"First since I got here," the Slowpoke said calmly. "Some folk, been around a lot longer, been pretty freaked out. Sounds like it don't ever happen here. I was enjoying that. Earthquake killed me, y'know."

"Ah... " Key glanced at Archie, who'd stopped in his tracks. "Thanks. We'll catch up to you." She paused, letting the Slowpoke plod off. "Archie?"

"...No earthquakes, huh?" he mumbled. "So… something unusual started happening… just at the same time we got here?" He smiled a little. "You know, you might be right. There might be something odd going on here!"

"Told you so!" Key cheered. "Now c'mon, let's see this Guild and find out what _is_ going on!"

{ _The Reverse_ }

 _Pros of waking up on a mystery beach: this time I appear to have all of my memory, and the sunset is very pretty. Cons of waking up on a mystery beach…_ He rolled onto his back, waving all four paws in the air. _I appear to be a Luxray._ He batted his black-furred forepaws against his steel hindpaws. _And my legs have been transformed into perfectly fitting Luxray prostheses. I am impressed, but confused._ Most of his scars appeared to be intact, somehow, breaking up his blue-and-black fur in some places. The fur was missing almost entirely across his left side, from his...wrist? From there all the way up to his shoulder, stretching partially to his chest and back, nearly reaching down to his hind leg. The hairless patch of skin was wrinkled and a brighter color than the rest of his Luxray skin seemed to be, and even formed an odd lump around the shoulder. His tail, at least, appeared to be intact, probably since he didn't normally possess one. He waved that in the air too, staring at the perfect four-point yellow star on the end. _Well, at least one part of me isn't broken…_

The air smelled strongly of sea salt, strengthening slightly every time a wave crashed nearby, but another scent reached his nose. He had never had such an enhanced sense of smell before, nor ever smelled anything with this much _detail_ , but he _knew_ this scent, like sitrus and old paper and dust and gold. He scrambled to roll over, trying to stand up , but he wasn't used to have four paws and he almost immediately collapsed into the sand again. But he could see her now, walking across the sand towards him. She didn't look like herself-like him, she was transformed. She was a Sylveon now, pink-and-blue ribbons trailing in the gentle sea breeze, but the way her huge blue eyes crinkled as she _smiled_ , her _smile…_

" _You_? Is it really you?" he said weakly. "Is this-are you-what is-?!"

"Hello, sweetie," she sighed, sitting down on the sand next to him and nuzzling her nose against him. "I missed you so much… but I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

{}

{}

 _Happy birthday to me! Didn't I have my nineteenth birthday during_ After Armageddon? _What am I doing being 24…? Being extremely excited for Sun & Moon, anyway XD_

 _Pedro the Pidgeot, Eliza the Ekans, Saylee the Charmander, Blue the Snivy_

 _Key the Bulbasaur, Archie the Oshawott_

 _Dawn the Uxie, Lucas the Mesprit, Barry the Azelf_

 _Silver the Grovyle_


	54. Chapter 53

{ _The Reverse_ }

The Guild, as it transpired, was shaped like a gigantic Wigglytuff. Dozens of Pokemon were filing into it, muttering to each other nervously.

"Y'know, Wigglytuff are usually pretty cute," Key opined, "but that's… kinda creepy."

"Don't know what you mean," Archie argued. "I think all the flaming torches and spiked fences are _very_ homely and welcoming!"

"What about mysterious voices booming from the ground?" Key asked, using a vine to point to a dark patch of ground in front of the huge Wigglytuff. All of the Pokemon ahead of them had queued up and were walking over the patch one at a time, stopping briefly over it before a voice yelled out what kind of Pokemon they were and welcomed them to the guild.

"You can't prejudge mysterious ground voices," Archie admonished her. "They might be friendly booming ground voices!"

"True," Key conceded. "After all, all they do is yell peoples' species at them-that's hardly the most sinister thing I've ever seen." She looked down at herself. "Or the weirdest."

"It's whoever's on gate duty for the Guild," a friendly Kangaskhan ahead of them said, gently petting the baby sitting in her pouch. "They try to keep track of who's around, though of course it can be hard to track when people leave or arrive… you've just arrived yourselves, haven't you?"

"Yes, we have," Archie said with a nod.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said sympathetically. "Well, you're safe now, don't you worry." She turned and walked forwards over the tightly-woven wooden grid, pausing for a moment to hold out her baby as well until the voices below shouted out their names.

"I'm getting a little tired of everybody feeling sorry for us," Key grumbled, taking her turn at walking over the grid.

"It's somebody new!" the voices below chorused loudly, making her jump. "Who is it? It's a Bulbasaur!"

"Um… yeah, that's me," Key said, squinting down into the dark. "Can I come in?"

"Welcome!" the voices called brightly. Key tentatively stepped back off of the grid and, when nothing horrible happened, turned to watch Archie walk over.

"It's somebody new! Again!" the voices cried excitedly. "Who is it? It's an Oshawott! Welcome!"

"Oshawott, huh?" Key said as Archie waddled off the grid. "Never heard of them before."

"They're not native to the Fairlands," Archie said, peering down at himself. "They're pretty rare, actually. I've never seen a live one bef…" He trailed off, shuddering, after uttering the word 'live'.

Key raised a vine threateningly. "Remember, giving up is banned," she said pointedly.

"Anyway," Archie said with a cough. "I _really_ didn't recognize an Oshawott from _this_ angle." He gestured at himself as they walked into the belly of the Wigglytuff. Then he plucked off the scallop shell sitting on his chest. "I can use this as a weapon, I think. If I need to. Things seem pretty peaceful here…"

"Or at least like they _were_ peaceful," Key said, looking around at the Pokemon inside of the cavernous Guild Hall. It was crowded wall-to-wall with a colourful menagerie of Pokemon, many of which she'd never seen before. She couldn't seem to get a handle on the size of the hall; the distances seemed to distort as more and more Pokemon filed into the room, like it was growing to accommodate them. Possibly it was. Key's weird-o-meter had been seriously recalibrated and a Wigglytuff-shaped building that grew to fit its occupancy wasn't outside the realm of possibility anymore.

Every Pokemon that walked in had a similar expression on their variable faces; nervous fear hunched all of their frames into huddles of hushed whispers as they congregated with others that they knew. Most of the talk was of the earthquakes, but phrases like 'breaking up' and 'falling apart' were also coming up often.

"Do you think any of the others might be here?" Archie muttered, scanning the crowd. "Although I'm not sure how we'd spot them if they were…"

"Well… I was on my own when I woke up," Key said, peering around thoughtfully between the huddles. "So… maybe anyone on their own? Looking confused or… staring at themselves weirdly or, I don't know, falling over? If everybody got turned into Pokemon, then it'll be weirding them out, right?" She started carefully walking through the crowd, moving between the groups and trying to spot anybody who was standing alone or behaving oddly. The ever-expanding crowd made it very difficult to keep eyes on any given Pokemon for more than a few seconds once they were on the ground; she was able to track a Chatot that was circling over the crowd, and at one point saw a Pidgeot with damaged feathers that seemed to be carrying some smaller Pokemon on its back, but once it landed it was lost in the crowd.

"Maybe we should stick by the doors and watch people as they leave," Archie suggested, rubbing his eyes. "Or is that creepy?"

"Little bit, but…" Key began, trailing off at a loud shriek.

"ATTENTION! ATTENTION, EVERYBODY!" the Chatot was calling as it circled. "GUILDMASTER WIGGLYTUFF IS SPEAKING!" The Chatot flew to a podium at what Key supposed had to be the far side of the room; she could see the Wigglytuff standing on it quite easily, as if she were less than twenty feet away, but when she tried to focus on the crowds standing between her and the podium, there had to be miles of Pokemon. Trying to avert a headache, she stared very intently at the Wigglytuff.

"Thank you, Chatot!" the bright pink-and-white Pokemon said brightly. "Hello, everybody, and thank you for coming! I know we don't usually call everybody together like this, but something very unusual is happening, and you all deserve to know what!"

"See?" Key whispered to Archie. "There's always _somebody_ that knows about the weird shit."

"I'm sure many of you have noticed that there have been a lot of earthquakes recently," Chatot said pompously. "If you're a new arrival, you might have heard from a long-stay that this isn't something that usually happens. But we've found out what's going on from Dusknoir, a great and noble Rescuer who came here from a distant part of the Reverse. He's already hurried away on an important mission: capturing the person responsible for all these earthquakes!"

"On his own?" a large Alakazam said with a frown. "There are plenty of other Rescuers who are here to help him deal with such a dangerous foe."

" _Obviously_ we're not just going to sit here!" the Chatot insisted. "Now, the one responsible is a Grovyle with red leaves. According to Dusknoir, he's been stealing something very valuable-the Gears of Time and Space that make this world possible. Without them, we'd all be lost in the void in between arriving and going back… if we could even find our way back!"

"Oh, _no_ ," a Sylveon nearby gasped as the room erupted into confused, frightened muttering. Key could see the Wigglytuff trying to speak again, but their words were drowned out by the uproar.

"QUIET, PLEASE!" Chatot shrieked. "GUILDMASTER WIGGLYTUFF HAS MORE TO SAY!"

The room quietened down, all looking expectantly at Wigglytuff. The bright pink-and-white Pokemon was smiling faintly as they stood on the podium, gazing vaguely at the assembly.

"Go ahead, Guildmaster," Chatot prompted. Wigglytuff didn't say anything. "...Guildmaster?"

A faint snore echoed through the room.

" _GUILDMASTER_!" Chatot cried as some giggling broken out. "Guildmaster Wigglytuff, _please_ wake up!"

"Ummm…" Key glanced around and caught the eye of a Sunflora, who smiled at her.

"I suppose if Guildmaster Wigglytuff can still sleep through meetings with his eyes wide open, things can't be that bad," the Sunflora giggled.

"GUILDMAAAAASTEEEEER!" Chatot yelled desperately. "PLEASE wake up!"

Wigglytuff blinked a couple of times. "...Huh?"

"Guildmaster!" Chatot cried.

"Chatot!" Wigglytuff yelped, making the flying Pokemon jerk backwards.

"Guildmaster! Er, I mean… Guildmaster?" Chatot asked, taking his place next to Wigglytuff again. "So, um, just so you know…"

"Don't be afraid, everybody!" Wigglytuff said brightly. "This is just one thief, and we have a plan to catch him! Dusknoir told us the location of two Gears nearby that the thief hasn't gotten to yet. We'll send teams of Rescuers to both to lie in wait for this thief, catch him and make him return everything he's stolen! YOOM-TAH!" The room was full of cheers this time, the gathered Pokemon responding to the Guildmaster's exuberance and confidence.

"We have to move quickly, so if all non-Rescuers could please vacate the Guildhouse!" Chatot called. "Team Leaders to the front to discuss assignments with Guildmaster Wigglytuff!"

"Well, we know about the weird stuff now," Archie said, backing away.

"Where are you going?" Key demanded. "You think it's a coincidence that this Grovyle started stealing Time and Space stuff when we got here? We have to help! C'mon, let's go see if we can join up with one of these teams-"

"Ha! You think a coupla babies like you are gonna be any use?"

Key turned, instantly freezing up at the sight of a sneering Skuntank towering over her. A Koffing was hovering just behind it, a Zubat sitting on its head, all likewise sneering.

Archie puffed himself up, grabbing his scallop shell. "Listen," he growled in his incongruously deep voice, "I don't know who you think you are, but-"

"We're Team Skull," the Skuntank interrupted. Key finally registered that its voice was deeper and harsher than Jupiter's, so this wasn't _that_ monster, but that didn't stop her pulse pounding in her ears (should she _have_ a heartbeat?) and her throat drying up. "We're one of the most famous Teams around here, and _we're_ gonna deal with this thief, not some brand-new-" He stopped with a yelp as a vine thwacked him on the nose.

"You keep _saying_ that you are a well-established Team, but you never _do_ anything save for menacing Pokemon which are smaller than you," a Budew said, trotting up to stand in front of Key and Archie. Archie stiffened, eyes widening.

" _Pourquoi ne pas vous casser_ and take this opportunity to do something useful for once?" a Roselia added, sauntering up to stand next to the Budew, smiling in an entirely unfriendly way at Team Skull. Despite the fact that the two grass-types were even _smaller_ than Key and Archie, the Team's sneers disappeared.

"You're lucky we've got better things to do than deal with you, Team Sword," the Skuntank snarled, backing away. "C'mon, if we don't go soon, all the good assignments'll be gone."

" _Au revoir,_ Team _Salaud_!" the Roselia said, waving after them. Key still felt frozen, but for an entirely different reason as she stared at the Roselia, who turned to them with a smile that was much gentler, despite the scarring running down the middle of her face.

" _Allez-vous bien_?" the Budew asked. "You are new here, _n'est-ce pas_? I have not seen you around before. Do not worry, not all Teams are like _them_."

"You're…" Archie choked out. " _Rapier_?"

Rapier's eyes widened. " _Archie_?"

" _Belle_?" Key managed, still staring at the Roselia.

" _Mon dieu…_ Key?" Belle gasped.

{ _Darnua 23rd, 1:16am}_

 _{?}_

"Wuh-wuh-well… on-n-n th-the buh-buh-bright s-s-side, I h-hav-v-ven't seen an-n-ny puh-portals for a wuh-while," Godin Court mumbled, forcing brightness into his tone as he clung to Larry's wet fur. At least, he hoped he was clinging to it. He hadn't been able to feel his hands for a while. "Muh-maybe it's ov-v-ver."

"Nnnnnoo puh-porrrrtalssss mmmmeannnnns nnnno chuh-chance offf gettinnnng puh-portalled hommmme," Milo Hunter ground out. It sounded like he was clenching his teeth tightly together to keep them from chattering, mainly clinging to Court's shoulders rather than the slender Linoone. Detective Hawkshaw had his arms around their shoulders, the painful weight of supporting the large, burly detective offset both by the buoyancy of the water and the benefit of Hawkshaw's greater body heat. Even the Detective, however, was chilling noticeably as they clung to Larry's back, the Linoone swimming all four of them through the freezing ocean. The sky above them was clear and dusted with more stars than Court had ever seen in his entire life, but it was hard to appreciate them when dark spots were dancing at the edges of his vision.

 _I must be hallucinating from hypothermia,_ he thought fuzzily. _It looks like some of those stars are_ moving _. Does hypothermia cause hallucinations…?_

"H-hey, puh-puh-pal," Detective Hawkshaw croaked, "am I luh-losin' it, oh-or is th-that stuh-stuh-star _m-movin'_?"

"Ain't just you," Larry panted. "Think it's a plane or somethin'? Also, when we reach land again, all of you have _gotta_ lay off the burger ramen or I'm never swimming you across the ocean again."

"I see it…" Hunter coughed. He cleared his throat a few times, took a deep breath, and bellowed, "HELLO!"

Court winced, but couldn't help grinning; even inside an airplane, he was sure, somebody would hear the commanding tones that could cut through the rowdiest courtroom and render it silent. He cleared his own throat, waiting for Hunter to stop shouting to breathe, and yelled, "HELP! HELP US!" at the top of his lungs.

The lights grew large enough to tell that they were definitely moving and not just stars, but it dawned on Court as he and Hunter took turns yelling (same shit, different day) that they didn't _quite_ look like the lights of a plane. They were an odd orangey colour, for one thing, and seemed to be flickering oddly.

They were also, he realized as he spotted darker shapes outlined by the flickering light, much closer than he though.

And not a plane.

When he heard the _whoosh_ of huge wings flapping, he expected to be further frozen, but was pleasantly surprised by a rush of warm air. Detective Hawkshaw sighed happily; Hunter actually _moaned._

"You're an awfully long way out," said something that was glowing too brightly white for Court's fuzzy vision to make out. "Were you in a shipwreck?"

"No… there wuh-was some k-k-kind of p-portal," Hunter managed.

"You're n-not a plane, puh-pal," Detective Hawkshaw mumbled. There was some laughter above them, and then Detective Hawkshaw was lifted away from them. Court didn't get the chance to bemoan the loss of the detective's body heat before large, thin, incredibly _warm_ claws tightened around one of his arms. Hunter tightened his grip around Court's other arm as the pair of them were lifted into the air and clutched to a scaly chest that was blasting heat like a furnace.

Something _buzzed_ near his face. "Where did you come from?" a chirpy voice asked. "We're flying to Sinnoh, but if you're from somewhere else we can leave you at a port and-"

"Sinnoh's good," Court said weakly, peering over his shoulder to see that the buzzing thing, whatever it was, was large enough to be carrying Larry in its feet. There seemed to be a couple of things sitting on its back, peering at him, and what looked like a large cloud floating next to it. "'Swhere we're from…"

"You said something about portals," a much deeper, closer voice said. Court could feel it rumbling through the hot, scaly chest. "What do you mean by portals?"

"Odd rifts… we were in a city one minute, and then something was happening at the peak of Mt Coronet…" Hunter mumbled. Steam was rising from his suit as he dried out. "I don't know what, but it didn't look good."

"Something odd's happening on Mt Coronet that's causing portals to open…?" a smooth, soothing voice said somewhere nearby.

"Awright, who wants tae bet that's where they'll be?" another voice said, drawing some nervous laughter.

"I don't quite know how far we are from Sinnoh, but I know we're going in the right direction, so hang on and we'll take you home," whatever was holding Court and Hunter said, wrapping its thin arms a little more securely around them as it picked up speed, shooting across the waves. "On the way, could you tell us what happened in a little more detail…?"

{}

{}

 _Can you tell who our favourite Pokemon that we wanted to write more about were? XD Because it's the longest bit of French in the chapter, courtesy of the Fabulous Key-chan, "_ Pourquoi ne pas vous casser" _basically means "_ why don't you fuck off". _I missed Belle a lot XD_

 _I'm sorry this one's a day late, and in this case it's not just because I've been working. The whole time I've been working on this series, I've taken a lot of pride in being able to keep up almost completely with a weekly schedule, due to writing so much that I've usually had a pretty huge buffer between what I'm writing and what I'm posting. At the time that I started posting this last year, I had 52 chapters already finished. However, around January this year, the depression I've been struggling with for years_ really _flared up and it's taken me lower than I've been in years, to the point that I'm seeing a therapist for the first time now (thankfully, she's awesome). One fun thing my depression's doing now that it's never done before, and is part of why it's so bad now, is that it's actively murdered my ability to write. Writing this chapter over the past couple of weeks is the first creative writing I've done in_ nine months _, and while I'm so happy to be writing again, I'm struggling and I no longer have a buffer for this fic. I'm going to try as hard as I can to keep posting frequently and I refuse to stop writing this fic, especially since I already have the rest of the plot planned out and some chapters written for the next couple of fics after this one, but I can no longer promise weekly updates and I can only ask for your patience and understanding._

 _Pedro the Pidgeot, Eliza the Ekans, Saylee the Charmander, Blue the Snivy_

 _Key the Bulbasaur, Archie the Oshawott, Belle the Roselia, Rapier the Budew_

 _Dawn the Uxie, Lucas the Mesprit, Barry the Azelf_

 _Silver the Grovyle_


	55. Chapter 54

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Chatot!" Pedro called as he flapped over to the front of the room. "We got a coupla new Teammates!"

"I see," the Chatot said, puffing up his feathers as he looked over Saylee and Blue. "New arrivals?"

"Got a problem with that?" Blue asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, there's no problem!" the Guildmaster said, bouncing on the spot happily. "Team Badass is a very reputable team-are you alright, Charmander?"

"Fine," Saylee giggled, pressing her paws to her mouth. "I've missed you," she said fondly to Pedro, who preened.

"Well, it is pretty rare that you want new teammates," Chatot said, peering more closely at Saylee and Blue. "Friends of yours, hmmm? Trustworthy?"

"Absolutely," Eliza assured him. "We're all ready to help!"

"Well, then, Pidgeot, you can take your team to Fogbound Lake," Chatot said. "Team Hydro, Team Glee and Team Unown are already on their way there. Team Unown's got a new one, too. I know a lake's not a great place for fire-types," he added, nodding to Saylee, "but having a couple of fire-types around will be great for dealing with Grovyle."

"Hah! A little squirt like you? _We'll_ handle that thief!"

"Oh… hello," Eliza said, frowning at the Skuntank, Koffing and Zubat that were approaching. Saylee fought the urge to back up; the Skuntank looked a LOT bigger than even Jupiter's had to a human.

"Ya sure yer up ta handlin' it?" Pedro snickered, looking past the newcomers. "Grovyle's a grass-type, ya know, and since ya just ran from Team Sword with yer tails between yer legs..."

The Skuntank snarled. "We're not _scared_ of _them_!" he snapped. "We have a job to do! Guildmaster," he said sweetly, "where do you want us to go catch that thief?"

"C'mon," Pedro said, stooping to let Saylee and Blue climb onto his back. "The place is startin' ta smell bad." He raised his wings, allowing Eliza to wind around his feet before taking off into the air, flying over the few scattered Pokemon left around and out the door.

"Hey, Pedro?" Saylee asked as they moved into the open air. She focused on snuggling into Pedro's rough feathers, a familiar sensation even through unfamiliar skin, and on not looking up at the weird colours in the sky. "That Chatot called you Pidgeot, even though he seems to know you?"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Blue asked. "The Guildmaster just had a title, and the rest were going by species, not names."

"Well… fer one thing, fer some reason there often aren't a lot a' members a' the same species 'round at once, so there ain't too much confusion when ya talk 'bout Chatot or Koffing or whatever," Pedro explained. "It's easy enough. And… well, usually folk get told about this not long after they show up, but I guess nobody's told ya yet… once ya stop usin' yer name, ya start ta… ferget."

"Forget?" Saylee asked, shivering even though there was literally no way for her to be cold. "You mean…?"

"What yer life was like, who ya knew… who ya _were_ ," Pedro continued. "Eliza an' me, we're pretty much still us and still remember pretty clearly 'cause we call each other by name. That's how a lot a' folk remember, stickin' with their friends an' family an' suchlike from when they were alive. But steadily, folk just start lettin' stuff drift away, and when ya don't remember nothin' anymore, that pushes a lot a' folk ta go back an' start over. Some folk want ta ferget, o' course, as quickly as possible…"

"Go back and start over?" Blue asked. "So, what, reincarnation is definitely a thing?"

"Ummm… maybe?" Eliza said, her head poking up under Pedro's wing. Saylee realized that she could hear Eliza clearly because there wasn't any sound of wind; Pedro was flying through no air resistance whatsoever, probably meaning that there wasn't any air. "Most people think that, y'know, _leaving_ means getting a new life back in the Old World, but it's pretty much impossible to know for sure. Some people do seem to find this place familiar, even remembering old lives if they hear their old name."

"But fer all we know, there's other places folk can go," Pedro added. "I don't really even know how ta _leave_ -folk seem ta just know once they've decided ta go, and I ain't yet, so I dunno. Maybe ya can reincarnate if that's what ya wanna do, or ya can go somewheres else if ya wanna. I think I remember Carrie talkin' about a waitin' place between the livin' world an' the afterlife, so maybe that's this, an' we're all just hangin' around 'til we're ready fer the _real_ Next. It ain't like ya can really test this kinda thing."

"So the only thing we know for sure is that even after you die, you _still_ don't know the secrets of death," Blue said, rolling his eyes. "So what was with those assholes back there, anyway? I thought you said Rescuers were people who looked out for and helped newcomers and stuff."

"Well… some people just do it because they like feeling important," Eliza sighed. "They like showing off their achievements."

"Dunno 'bout Skuntank, but the other two were _definitely_ Rocket lackeys or somethin' like that when they were alive," Pedro said, rolling his eyes. "Call 'emselves Team Skull, like _total assholes._ "

"You named your team 'Team Badass'," Blue pointed out.

"Purely descriptive," Pedro said primly. "The other teams we're gonna be with are pretty cool, though, even if Team Unown's kinda creepy. They've got a good rep, though. Some folks do stick around long enough ta get known."

"Like that famous Rescuer they mentioned at the Guild?" Saylee asked. "Dusknoir?"

"He's supposed to be quite powerful," Eliza commented. "Strong enough to go back to the living world to rescue lost spirits and bring them here. I've never met him, but there's all sorts of stories about things he's done."

"Ain't many ghost-types 'round here," Pedro commented. "'Cause if yer a ghost-type, ya were somethin' else alive, then died, then didn't leave quite yet, ya know? So here yer whatever ya were first. But folk say ghost-types can go between here an' there as they like, if they're strong enough."

"Dusknoir… might be related to Duskull and Dusclops," Saylee muttered. "I think I heard a rumour that Dusclops can drag souls into the afterlife, so if Dusknoir are stronger… maybe he can. And if he can travel between here and… where we were…"

Blue sat up sharply. "Maybe he can find out what the hell went on up on that mountain!" he said. "Because whatever the hell was, that was _not_ normal, and neither is us being here."

"Ya think ya ain't really dead?" Pedro asked.

"Accidentally ending up in the world of the dead while still actually alive wouldn't be the _weirdest_ thing that's ever happened," Blue said with a shrug. "By a small margin, granted, but still."

"I'd like to find Steven, too," Saylee said, gripping onto Pedro's feathers as he started to swoop down towards a broad bank of fog. "He was up there, and I _know_ he knows something about this. More than we do, anyway. I'm guessing that's Fogbound Lake?"

"Nah, it's Sandy Desert," Pedro snarked, swooping down low and landing on one foot by the banks of the lake, holding the other foot up briefly to allow Eliza to slide off. He stooped, letting Saylee and Blue climb off of his back.

"Huh, that feels pretty nice," Blue said, looking down his own back as roots started slithering out from under the leaves on his back. "...ooookay. That's a thing. Not really sure how I feel about that. Hey, are you okay?"

"Stings," Saylee muttered, peering at her tail. Slight steam was coming off of it. Her skin was prickling. "It doesn't really _hurt_ , it's just… not nice."

"Sorry 'bout that, Doll," Pedro said, holding a wing over her. "That might help keep some a' the worst a' it off."

"Thanks, Pedro," Saylee said gratefully, looking around. There was a large Swampert leaning out of the water at the edge of the lake, talking to a Girafarig and a few other Pokemon that were hard to make out in the fog. The only one that Saylee could make out was a Sylveon, who was staring at her curiously. "Hello?" she said.

The Sylveon blinked, their ears twitching, then they gasped. "That voice… is that Saylee? Sar Saylee?"

"Yes, that's me..." Saylee said, trying to remember if she'd ever known a Sylveon particularly well. She'd only ever seen them dancing with the geisha. The fact that several Unown followed this one as she trotted over to Saylee did not bode well. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Not looking like this, I'm sure!" the Sylveon said cheerily. "It's Professor Hawkshaw, dear. Melody Hawkshaw. Do you remember me?"

"Remember you?!" Blue blurted out, already-huge eyes widening. "Shit, lady, Saylee's been working on your murder for the better part of a year!"

"Really? I'm very flattered," Professor Hawkshaw said with a smile. "And you are…? I'm sorry, I don't recognize your voice at all."

"Professor, this is my partner, Blue Oak," Saylee said. "And two of my former team members, Pedro and Eliza, both actually Pokemon. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to see you here, Professor. Or, y'know, anywhere ever again."

"You can call me Melody, dear, or Mel if you like," Melody said, nodding. "I'm not sure that my position at Goldenrod U is still valid after my death. And everybody winds up here sooner or later, don't they? A little soon for you, perhaps. I don't think you're supposed to be here yet."

"Well, seein' as Eliza an' I distinctly remember gettin' killed in normal ways, an' these two remember gettin' sucked inta some kinda piller a' black light after a dude tried ta break reality," Pedro said thoughtfully, "I'd hafta agree with ya on that one."

"Sounds like what Bel said happened too," Melody agreed, "and I know for a fact that _he_ doesn't die yet, so-"

"Hold up," Saylee said, raising a paw. "Who's Bel, and what do you mean you 'know for a fact that he doesn't die yet'?" She looked suspiciously at the Unown that were hovering around Melody's shoulders.

"Nothing to do with them, I promise!" Melody said brightly. "Well, since being dead is no time to be secretive, in answer to question one: Bel's my husband. He's over there, asking lots of questions, as she does. The Luxray, not the Girafarig." She gestured over to where the Girafarig had stepped aside, allowing a clearer view of a large, scruffy Luxray.

"He looks as scraped up as you, Saylee," Eliza gasped. "Are his hind legs _supposed_ to look like that?"

"I'm guessing that your husband's usually a human, but where the fuck did he get Luxray prosthetic legs here in deadland?" Blue wanted to know.

"Oh, these aren't real bodies," Melody said, waving a paw. "I haven't quite determined what the system is for what Pokemon humans appear as, or indeed if there is a system at all, but our appearances do seem to be affected by our perceptions of ourselves. He's had those legs an awful long time, and the incident in which he lost his original legs was… _significant_ to him." She looked down sadly. "They're very much a part of his perception of himself, along with many of his scars… I expect the same can be said if you, Saylee."

"No burn scars, though," Saylee observed. "I guess because Charmander's skin _can't_ burn, and I know that, but…"

"My self-image is of me as a human, not whatever the fuck this is," Blue said, gesturing to himself.

"A Snivy!" one of the Unown, a !-shaped one, piped up.

"I don't think humans are supposed to be able to come here," Melody said thoughtfully, glancing at the Unown. "I'm afraid my friends here are being rather enigmatic as to exactly _why_ …"

"Because it's not _for_ humans," an R-shaped Unown said, rolling its eye.

"River, you have to stop saying that like it answers any more questions than it raises," Melody sighed. "They're not dead either," she stage-whispered to Saylee. "The cheeky wee buggers just go wherever they like."

"Which brings us to question number two: how do you know that we, or at least your husband, 'don't die here'?" Saylee asked. "It's the phrasing that's really got me curious."

"You know of the four major Reality Deities, most actively worshipped in Sinnoh, right?" Melody asked, sitting down on the ground and tapping one of her forepaws on the ground. "I'm not going to say the names of the upper two, since trust me, that's a bad idea here, but Palkia and Dialga… you know what they rule, right?"

"Space and… time," Saylee realized. She looked over at the Luxray again. She couldn't see any sort of aura, but that didn't mean a thing _here_. "He's Dialga's avatar. You've met his future self."

"Bingo!" Melody said cheerfully, waving her tail. "And he's still very handsome well into his silver years, I'll tell you that!" She looked fondly over at her husband, who caught her gaze, smiled brightly and started to walk over to them.

He didn't get halfway there before a brilliant light shone from the lake, blinding all of them.

{}

{}

 _Of course I had to get really physically ill and bedbound before I could figure out how to finish this chapter. Like… of course. Got half of the next chapter written already, too, so hopefully it won't be such a wait._

 _I've also decided that for NaNoWriMo this year, I'm gonna do 30 oneshots-I don't have a novel plan this year and I don't know if I have it in me to do another big project, but 30 bitesize projects might be easier to handle. I've got about 20 oneshots for this 'verse (or AUs of it-I finally have more than_ Mirror, Mirror _!) outlined, because seriously this happens whenever I can't get to my computer for a few days, but if anybody's got anything they'd really like to see, please shout it out!_

 _Also WHO ELSE IS HYPE FOR THE SUN &MOON DEMO ON OCTOBER 18TH?! I AM LIVING FOR THIS_


	56. Chapter 55

{ _Darnua 23rd, 2:32am}_

 _{Mt. Coronet}_

Caelin only half-listened as Iona listed off the casualties, injured and dead, theirs and the enemy's, human and Pokemon, the captured and the missing.

She fought not to focus on the missing. The rest of the world would not stop and wait for the strange rift at the peak to be resolved; it would be much more worrying, in fact, if it did, if time had been that damaged in the course of Cyrus' attempt to play god. The man had vanished, along with a dozen others, but the Fire Lord remained, and she had responsibilities.

"We are still searching the captured Galactics for pokeballs," Indra added with a sneer, "but as you instructed, all inhabitants are being released and contained, and the pokeballs smashed."

"Not all those who fought on Galactic's behalf did so willingly," Caelin cautioned. "Find the Lucario-Roar's family are here, are they not?"

"I've seen Rashad, Lewin and Luke around," Terra confirmed. "I think Luke's waiting for Sir Riley to come around, though."

"Find Rashad and Lewin, and inform Luke that when his human awakes, they are to assist in interviewing the captured Pokemon to separate the victims from the guilty," Caelin ordered. "Their ability to see auras will help separate truth from falsehood. And all those who were false must be interrogated. Are any of the noble species among them?"

"Some of my clan were stolen, but very recently," Prince put in. "It won't have been them."

"What won't have been them?" Iona asked with a frown.

"These humans _knew_ the true extent of the Lake Spirits' powers," Caelin growled softly. "They _knew_ that the rulers of Time and Space could be summoned to the peak of Coronet by disrupting the balances of power between the Lake Spirits. They knew things from the most carefully guarded of lore. _Somebody_ betrayed us all, and we _will_ know who has done so."

"Whoever has done so is either a monster or a fool," Indra snorted. "When you find them, I hope you will not be so soft on them as you were on me, sister."

"That is 'your majesty' to you," the Fire Lord said, gathering her cape as she stood. "Terra, find the Lucario. Prince, find your people. Even if they were not the ones who told Galactic anything, they-"

"FIRE LORD!"

Sally, who had been sitting guard outside of the inner cave where Caelin and her closest advisors had been conferring, stepped into the doorway as there was a loud clattering in the hallway. Sparks shot off of Pegasus' hooves as he skidded to a halt in front of the viciously glaring Luxray.

"Calm down, pretty boy," Sally said, glancing over her shoulder. "Where's the fire? Aside from, y'know, everywhere down here…"

"Some Pokemon just landed on the peak," the Rapidash reported, stamping his hooves impatiently. "Strangers, not from around here. They were asking for Sar Saylee and Lady Key and I didn't know what to tell them…"

"Perhaps that around here, we do not tolerate outsiders landing on our sacred peak without the Fire Lord's leave?" Indra snarled.

"Terra, Prince, to your tasks," Caelin ordered. "Iona, we trust you to see to things within the mountain. Indra, we shall see to these strangers." She leapt onto Sally's back. Pegasus turned and ran back down the halls, the Fire Lord on her steed and Indra in tow.

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Not that I'm unhappy to see you, _cherie_ , but just _what_ do you think you're doing here?" Belle asked, kissing Key's cheeks. Rapier and Archie were wibbling each others' names in shock. "If those _batards de Galactic_ -!"

"Well, yes and no," Key said, letting Belle adjust the flower behind her ear. Belle's serene face was still scarred with a slash between her eyes, as it had been since she was a Budew, but there were no signs of burning on her. "Galactic did a thing and it was weird, but I'm not totally convinced that they _killed_ us. The last thing I remember is getting sucked into some kind of pillar of black light and then we were here."

"Suspicious indeed," Belle agreed, looking up and winking. Key followed her gaze to see that she was winking at a large Pidgeot with a burned crest who was glaring at Team Skull.

"Hey, that Pidgeot…" Archie asked. "It's not Pete, is it?"

"Who?" Belle asked.

"Pete? What happened to Pete?" Rapier asked in surprise.

"Blue's Pidgeot… did he have a burned crest?" Key asked, watching the Pidgeot take to the air with several smaller Pokemon clinging to its back.

"Team Badass-yes, that is really their name-was already operating when I died, although I believe there was just a Pidgeot and an Ekans," Rapier commented. "So it is not Pete. What happened to Pete? _Que s'est-il passé?_ "

"Galactic," Archie said, shaking his head. "Damn, Rapier… and who's this Roselia? Friend of yours?"

" _Ma soeur,_ " Rapier said at the same moment that Key said, "Lee's Roselia, Belle."

"Wait, Belle? The one who introduced us to Warin?" Archie recalled. " _You_ were training with _Saylee_?"

"You had a brother?!" Key said in surprise. "And he was travelling with _Archie_?!"

"Ah, I believe that I recall you now," Belle said, eyeing up Archie. "Were you the gentleman with the penchant for chesto berries?"

"No, the other one," Archie said. "And, uh…" He fidgeted with his shell weapon. "I'm sorry that I couldn't protect Rapier from Galactic."

"A kind sentiment, but protecting you powerless humans is _our_ job, not the other way around," Belle said, twirling her roses with a smirk. "Besides, dying to protect others is the true badass' way to die, _non_?"

"Galactic, Galactic, Galactic… it is the same old tune around here," Rapier grumbled. "It is a small world, is it not, to see that your humans knew mine, Belle!"

"Would have been good luck if we'd both managed to stay alive," Belle sighed, patting her brother on the head with one of her roses. "Small world, eh?"

"No kidding," Key muttered. "Every world, apparently." They all paused to side-eye Team Skull as they haughtily strode out the door of the guildhouse.

"Team _Skull,_ " Archie complained. "They could at least _try_ not to sound like assholes. What kind of name is _Team Skull_?"

"Well, the important thing is that they're gone now, so we can speak to the Guildmaster in clean air," Belle said brightly, shepherding her brother and the two former humans over to the Chatot and Wigglytuff. "Guildmaster!" she called. "Team Sword has some new members for you to meet!"

" _Another_ Team with new members?" Chatot sighed. "Oh, well. Guildmaster, Team Sword has some new members," he said, turning to the Wigglytuff, who kept smiling vacantly into space. "Guildmaster? GUILDMASTER!" he yelled when the Guildmaster didn't respond.

"Huh?" the Guildmaster said, blinking a few times before focusing on the four of them and smiling. "Oh! Team Sword! Hello there! I see you've got new members!"

"Guildmaster, _please_ don't sleep like that," Chatot groaned. "Anyway, Team Sword has two new members, Bulbasaur and Oshawott. Should we send them to Fogbound Lake or Crystal Cave?"

"Oh, there's lots of teams at Fogbound Lake, so I think a newly-expanded Team like yours would be great at Crystal Cave!" Wigglytuff said brightly. "It's beautiful, I hope you'll like it!"

"Thank you," Key giggled.

" _Merci beaucoup_ , Guildmaster," Belle said, bowing elaborately, in perfect sync with Rapier.

"To Crystal Cave!" Rapier cried, splitting his bulb and protruding a couple of vines that he gently wrapped around Key's non-beflowered ear and one of Archie's paws to drag them towards the Guildhouse doors. "It truly is _tres belle_! You will _love_ it!"

{ _The Reverse_ }

 _(Concern/confusion/sympathy)_

Mesprit looked down at the sudden burst of new feeling from their avatar. Through the whirling yellow sand, it took them a minute to spot what Lucas had noticed; a Ninetales, curled up in the sand and starting to get slightly buried.

"Hello?" Mesprit called aloud, trying to emanate care and concern as they flew down to the Ninetales. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," the Ninetales said, cracking his eyes open and looking up at Mesprit. "I was just relaxing. Might have zoned out a little bit."

"Relaxing? In a sandstorm?" Mesprit said, raising an eyebrow.

"This is my favourite place here," the Ninetales said quietly. "I like the warm." He tilted his head. "You're… not like everybody else here, are you?"

"No," Mesprit said gently. "I am Mesprit, manifestation of emotion. And you are?"

"...Ninetales," the Ninetales said after a moment.

 _(?)_

" _Most souls forget their living name sooner or later,_ " Mesprit explained to Lucas. " _It's usually a sign that they're ready to move on._ Okay, Ninetales," they said, switching to their outside voice. "We were just passing by and thought we'd check on you. The sand can't hurt you, of course, but…"

"No, it's good that you woke me," the Ninetales said. "I don't want to fade out just yet." He hesitated. "I can't remember why, but I know I don't want to, so I'd rather stay until I figure it out." He stood up, shaking sand out of his fur. "What are you doing here? Are you looking for something? Can I help you?"

 _(Concern/enthusiasm!)_

" _We're not alone, Lucas,_ " Mesprit assured their host. " _We're never alone. It'll be safer for him if he isn't near us, or the Gear._ You're very kind," Mesprit said soothingly, "but… perhaps it is better if you were further away from this place. It may be dangerous soon."

Ninetales tilted his head again. "More dangerous than being dead?" he asked curiously.

"There are… worse things," Mesprit said, floating away. "I am sorry. I must go. I wish I could help you remember, but I cannot. I wish you luck in your search." They turned and flew away quickly, losing the Ninetales in the sand before long.

 _(Sad)_

" _I know,_ " Mesprit thought softly. " _Those who have forgotten what they are waiting for often have no choice but to give up and move on. But we are emotion, not memory, and we have more important things to attend to right now._ "

 _(Persistent sadness)_

" _What's going on over there?"_ Dawn's voice came through the link clearly. " _Lou, is everything okay_?"

 _(Reassurance/safety/concern-away)_

" _Everybody here will be safe so long as we protect these Gears,_ " Dawn reassured him. " _We-_ " Her voice cut off abruptly.

 _(ConcernconcernworryFEAR)_

" _Oh my gods are you okay Dawn?!"_ Barry called frantically.

" _No-no, it's okay, I've got this!_ " Dawn promised. " _Hurry and find your Gears! I'm fine, I promise. There are others here to help me. I'll keep you updated, I promise. Go_!"

" _Don't get risky!"_ Barry cautioned. " _I'll keep looking, but you'd better tell us the_ second _you need help!"_

 _(WorryworryPROTECT)_

" _I'll let you know,_ " Dawn promised, her voice fading a little as her focus drifted from the link.

 _(Worryworryworry)_

" _I understand, but for now, the best we can do is find our Gear,_ " Mesprit said, searching for the feeling of power that would lead them to the Gear.

{}

{}

 _Happy Hallowe'en! Enjoy this largely un-spoopy chapter. Although I guess the majority of the characters in it are either potentially or definitely dead, so maybe it is accidentally thematic after all._

 _And then it's time for NaNoWriMo, so either I'm not going to get a full chapter done for a month while I struggle through my NaNoWriMo, or writing oneshots will set me off and there'll be like eight chapters this month. There is no in between._

 _It's pretty funny to me that the PMD Team Skull are minor characters in this fic during the runup to Sun & Moon, where a different Team Skull are antagonists. I am also _very very _excited for Alola XD THE DEMO IS SO PRETTY_


	57. Chapter 56

{ _Darnua 23rd, 2:39am}_

 _{Mt. Coronet}_

Though she followed the light of Pegasus' flames down the halls of Mt Coronet, Sally's monocular gaze was fixed to the ceiling, the colours of her iris and sclera inverted as she stared through solid stone to where her sister sat in vigil by the portal at the mountain's peak above.

Cynthia's Pokemon, as the team of a Champion, had quickly quashed their fear for their trainer and set about their duties, rounding up the stray Galactics around Mt Coronet. Caelin had also seen to it that her retinue had tasks to occupy themselves, as even with the battle won, there was much that needed to be done and they could all have time to pine and worry after the imminent threats to reality were dealt with. But Star, along with Draek the Dragonite and Mewtwo, had refused to leave the portal, instead sitting and staring intently into the gaping aperture in reality through which the humans had vanished. Luxray could see a greater spectrum than just about any other Pokemon, so if there was anything to see, Star would see it-and if there was anything to sense, then Mewtwo, a Pokemon who had confessed to not yet encountering an upper limit to his powers, would sense it. Draek was simply stubbornly dedicated to his trainer and had refused to leave the mountain until Lance was found.

The pink and blue lights that had become all that was to be perceived of the deities of Time and Space had vanished, and with the thick clouds obscuring the moon and stars, the only light that ought to be left on the peak was that of the faint eyes of the Unown as they circled the portal. This low light did not provide a visibility problem for Star, Mewtwo or the cave-raised Draek, and in any case even the faintest light would make a place seem bright as day compared to the impossible blackness of the portal, but when Caelin reached the peak she was surprised to see that she and Pegasus were not the only Pokemon to bring a little firelight to the plaza.

At first she thought that two more Dragonite had appeared, but a closer look revealed that while one of the new winged, orange Pokemon was of a size with Draek, both newcomers were a darker colour and had longer, leaner bodies with long, burning tails. The smaller had an entire wing with a metallic gleam to it, much like Zoe's prosthetic wings, while the larger had steel armour lining its otherwise natural-looking wingspan. The larger was in something of a glaring contest with Draek (Caelin absentmindedly noted that the new dragon's three-clawed hands were about the right shape to leave the triple lines of clawmarks on Draek's side), standing between the Dragonite and the rest of the newcomers.

Mewtwo appeared to be speaking calmly to a brown biped with a skull-like face-given the bone club it was clutching, perhaps it really was wearing a skull-and what Caelin took to be a human until her nose informed her it was a Pokemon, albeit an astonishingly humanoid one with brown skin, a purple tunic and large red fists. Behind them hovered a large Togekiss, bearing on its back a slender yellow Pokemon with a glowing tail. Beneath the smaller not-Dragonite's wings sat a large Pikachu and Espeon, both scowling at Draek. Between the two groups was an Azumarill, talking quietly to a tall, skinny green Pokemon covered in leaves, watched placidly by a huge, shaggy red quadruped with smoke coming from the humps on its back. Hovering over them were a green Pokemon with buzzing wings and a long, whiplike tail, and what Caelin would have taken for a lone, low-hanging cloud were a small blue head not peering out of the white fluff.

"This is sacred ground," Caelin called, leaping from Sally's back to land on the plaza. She squared her shoulders, cracked her knuckles, and bared her fangs as she looked over the new arrivals. "Why do you land here?"

The newcomers looked at each other, then the larger not-Dragonite, apparently designating him spokespokemon. "I'm Chaz," he offered, "and this is Charlotte, Eric, Perun, Toby, Mary, Hernan, Carrie and… uh, sorry, I didn't quite get all of your names when we picked you up from Hoen…"

"Thomas, Manami, Topaz, Skye and Nadia," the green, leafy one said, pointing to himself and the bearer of each name in turn. "Who the hell are you?"

"We are Fire Lord Caelin," Caelin snarled, allowing embers to drip from her teeth and her head to flare as she glared at Thomas, who looked like a highly flammable grass-type. "We are the ruler and guardian of this place. Your names tell us nothing of what you are. What do you seek here?"

"Cool it, will you?" the Pikachu snapped. "We're just looking for our trainers!"

"Calm down, Perun… we _are_ trespassing," the Espeon, Eric, pointed out. "Forgive my friend. We're just worried about Saylee."

"And Key!" Topaz added. "Have you met a couple of humans by those names?"

"Saylee and Key? Hell yeah we know those humans!" Sally said in surprise. "They're _our_ trainers!"

"Not mine," Indra sneered.

"Sar Saylee did mention that she and the Lady Key had trained many others in the past," Caelin said, looking over the collective thoughtfully. "Indeed, she mentioned repeated attempts to bring her former partners here technologically…"

"Which failed due to Galactic interference, or so we've heard," Toby sighed. "Which is when we enlisted Chaz and Charlotte's help to fly those of us who were gathered in Hoenn to Sinnoh the old-fashioned way."

"We were about to head out anyway with Carrie and Hernan," Charlotte said, gesturing to the Pokemon in question. "We've all been raring to deal with Galactic after what they pulled in Lavender, but I had to wait until I got the hang of my new wing…"

"The spirits have gone into a frenzy," Carrie said, twirling her bone club idly as she eyed the portal. "I suppose we know why, now, with this rip torn into their world…"

"Their wor-the _afterlife_?! _That's_ where this goes?!" Star yelped. " _That's_ where they've gone?!"

"Hold on, I think I'm developing psychic powers," Chaz said, holding one clawed hand over his eyes. "You're about to tell us that the 'they' that've gone through this portal to the afterlife include Saylee, Blue and Key, right?"

" _And numerous others_ ," Mewtwo added. " _But not willingly. They were… taken._ "

"By what?" Hernan asked, folding his arms and giving the portal a calculating look.

"Wasnae by they wee bastarts, was it?" Mary asked, flicking her tail disdainfully at the Unown.

"No," Draek said, shaking his head. "It was something else… something powerful."

"Lore tells of a god that rules the realm on the reverse of our own," Caelin told them. "It would be unwise to incur its further displeasure, unless you wish to bring its wrath down upon us all."

"...So is that you saying that we _can_ maybe do something if we're willing to put up with godly wrath?" Tobias said after a moment.

"Toby, no," Hernan said calmly. "No invoking godly wrath. We've talked about this."

"We probably should've talked to Saylee about it," Carrie sighed, twirling her bone club.

"Well, we _have_ dealt with godly wrath before and come out of it alright," Skye giggled.

"Honey, we were just holding our own until a bigger and better god turned up to turn godly wrath on the gods _we_ were fighting," Manami pointed out.

"Aight, so where we gaunnae get a bigger god?" Mary asked. "Where's Silver? He's nae bad as gods go, an he's livin here the now, right?"

" _He also went into the rift in search of his sister,_ " Mewtwo volunteered, " _as did a number of other young avatars._ "

"Speaking of bigger gods…" Charlotte said, looking thoughtfully at Mewtwo.

"No," Caelin said firmly.

"Maybe later," Chaz said thoughtfully. "For now, Fire Lord… we came here to fight Galactic and avenge our friends who were killed or wounded by them." he flared his armoured wings noticeably, disguising the way one of his much smaller claws rested on Charlotte's shoulder, gently patting the stump where the organic remnants of her wing met the prosthetic. "What can we do to help?"

"We fought Galactic on this mountain, and took many prisoners of war," Caelin said, "but we must guard those prisoners and ensure that there are no more running free. Follow us and we shall catch you up…"

{ _The Reverse_ }

"What the hell's fighting out there?!" Blue yelled, using his vines to get himself and Saylee quickly onto Pedro's back as Eliza twined around the Pidgeot's legs, allowing them to get off the ground and towards the flashes of light in the middle of the lake.

"It's the Grovyle!" a Feraligatr called, swimming by them. "All teams who can get to the middle of the lake, DO IT! Uxie's fighting it to protect the Gear!"

" _Uxie_?!" Saylee gasped. "What the hell is Dawn doing here?! She wasn't even on Mt Coronet!"

"Well, sounds like she's here now," Blue said, squinting through the dense fog that hid even the surface of the lake a few feet below.

"What the hell's an Uxie?" Pedro asked. "Is she powerful?"

"I mean… probably, but…" Saylee winced as the mist sliding past burned her skin, but refused to hunch down more into Pedro's feathers and obscure her view. She wanted to know the second there was anything to see. "Uxie's a being of knowledge, but I don't know how much power that translates into, especially _here…_ "

"There haven't been any of those flashes for a while," Eliza called up. "Is that a good thing?"

"It is if they stopped because Uxie won," Saylee said grimly. "If she lost…"

There was another light, this one more blinding than any of the previous flashes, and not a brief flash but a steady light that coalesced briefly into an intricate, round shape.

A glowing shape that was growing closer.

"Hang on!" Pedro shrieked as he banked sharply to avoid the round shape as it rushed towards them. Saylee looked down and caught, in the light of the strange shape-probably the Gear, but if it was a gear it was to something far for complicated and intricate than clockwork-a Grovyle with red leaves, apparently running across the fog.

"It's the Grovyle!" she called. "They've got the Gear!"

"I can't reach!" Blue yelled in frustration, his vines lashing out and falling far short of the Gear or the thief carrying it.

"Hang in an' I'll getcha there!" Pedro yelled, flapping his wings hard as he shot after the glowing shape. Saylee had to duck her head against Pedro's back, but she could hear the sound of things cutting through the mist-Razor Leaves, most likely, from the sounds of a Blastoise and a Swampert crying out in pain.

"We're gettin' outta the fog, then-the hell is that?!" Pedro exclaimed sharply. Saylee fought the slipstream, which was easier to do without the thick fog hurting her skin and tail, to peer over her Pidgeot's shoulder to catch a clear look at the Grovyle for the first time. They had paler green skin than Thomas' and bright red leaves, and she realized, in a bolt of shock, that they hadn't been running over the fog at all, but standing on the back of something hidden in the fog.

The Grovyle, the thief, the one who they'd been warned was trying to tear the entire Reverse apart, was riding on Suicune's back.

"Silver?" Saylee whispered.

Suicune was as fast as the wind, far faster than any Pidgeot. Within seconds, they were gone.

{}

{}

 _Saylee's brothers have really gotta stop disappearing in front of her eyes like this_

 _So, for those not interested in the NaNoWriMo oneshots, the latest news is that a bigoted pile of shit in a cheap spray-tan didn't win the US elections but is going to be president anyway. That SUCKS, and a lot of people are very scared, but far, far more people are against him than for him, and we have to love each other and support each other in any way we can, and good things are still going to happen. We're less than two weeks form a new Pokemon game and less than a month from a new Star Wars movie. Young Justice Season 3 has FINALLY been confirmed. And I finally got a job teaching in Japan, so if anybody wants to emigrate to Scotland, my room's free. *hugs for everybody who needs them*_


	58. Chapter 57

{ _The Reverse_ }

" _Dawn? C'mon! Answer us!"_

"Barry, be patient," Azelf said, floating in circles around the only entrance to the end cavern where they'd found the Gear. "Uxie is as powerful as any of us, and by far the smartest. They will handle themselves quite fine."

 _(Worryworryworry)_

" _I'm worried too!_ " Barry agreed. Lucas' feelings kept flowing through the psychic link, far more powerful than mere thoughtsand amplified by Mesprit's powers.

" _Don't be,_ " Dawn said, her voice finally, blessedly, returning to the link. " _I'm fine._ "

 _(Joyrelief!)_

" _DAWN! You're okay! What happened?!"_ Barry cried. " _Did you win the fight?! Did you kick their ASS?!"_

" _I_ ended _the fight when I realized that there was a misunderstanding,_ " Dawn said primly. " _I heard some of the souls here talking about an oddly-coloured Grovyle who was a thief and a danger to us all, so when I saw an oddly-coloured Grovyle I naturally attacked it. But that was wrong. The Grovyle isn't our enemy. It's_ Silver _."_

 _(Surpriseshockconfusion?)_

" _I agree with Lou! What the hell?!"_ Barry demanded. " _Wasn't that the guy who got us to Mt Coronet?! What's he doing stealing Gears?!"_

" _He's not stealing them, Barry,_ " Dawn explained patiently. " _He's gathering them, and he needs to get them soon. Dialga and Palkia are_ here _, and they need to get the Gears soon, or else-_ "

Barry didn't get a chance to hear _what_ else before the darkness _shifted_ and something slammed into him, knocking him across the room with enough force to shatter whatever stone or gem he landed on. He _knew_ that actual, physical harm wasn't a thing that could happen here, but it still _hurt_ , dammit, and blackness swam across his vision.

 _(Worryconcernfear!)_

" _Barry! Barry, we felt that, what_ happened?!"

" _Something attacked us!"_ Barry relayed.

"Who… are you?" Azelf demanded, gritting their teeth and fighting against the darkness pulling at them to open their eyes.

"Still _here_ , after an attack like that?" a calm voice said. "Well… I suppose you _are_ Willpower itself. Useless."

Through their swimming, fading vision, they made out something coming towards them. It looked like a Pokemon, like none Barry had ever seen before, but with Azelf identified as _Dusknoir_. Yet at the same time, it was also a human…

"You?" Barry asked in confusion.

There was another blast of black and

 _Nothing_

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Back up," Pedro said. "Ya found yer brother?"

"No, he's not-well, I did _find_ Red, but he was already dead," Saylee explained. She'd once thought that how often she said it would be inversely proportionate to how much it hurt to say; even finding out that there was existence after death, that her brother hadn't just vanished completely on Mt Silver, wasn't helping. The pain throbbed through her so strongly that she almost blacked out for a second. _Maybe being here makes emotions feel stronger?_ she wondered. "But I have a younger brother too, Silver. Half-brother. We have different mothers, same father."

"Ya found yer dad, too? Good on ya, Doll!" Pedro said brightly.

"Well, no, not… you know what, please let's have _that_ conversation later," Saylee sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Not in front of an audience, anyway." She side-eyed the group that had ringed around them to find out more about the mysterious Grovyle thief. Five teams had been sent to the Lake: Team Badass, Pedro and Eliza's team that Saylee and Blue had joined; Team Unown, consisting of Melody, her husband (who Saylee _really_ needed to talk to as soon as she was done explaining why people shouldn't attack her little brother), Melody's also recently-deceased Girafarig and a fluctuating number of Unown; Team Hydro, made up of a Blastoise, Feraligatr and Swampert; Team Constrictor, made up of an Octillery, Tentacruel and Cradily; and Team Faker, which was a single, concerned-looking Sudowoodo.

"Anyway, the Grovyle's your little brother, _and…_ " Blue prompted.

"And he's the avatar of the god Ho-oh," Saylee continued. "I don't know _why_ he's in the form of a Grovyle, but he was riding on Suicune's back, so he's definitely still linked to Ho-oh somehow. I don't know _why_ he's stealing Gears, but I can't think of why Ho-oh would want to destroy this reality…"

"Could be an attack on Giratina," Cradily offered. "Giratina's been _everybody's_ enemy since way back, so they say."

"Destroying this world risks every soul here, and Ho-oh is a god of rebirth; they wouldn't risk dead souls," Melody interjected. "There must be something that we don't know about those Gears that Ho-oh needs them for…"

"But taking the Gears is causing everything to fall apart!" Blastoise argued. "Everything started collapsing after the first Gear got stolen!"

"Yeah, Dusknoir _told_ us!" Tentacruel added.

"And how, may I ask, do we know that this Dusknoir is trustworthy?" Melody's husband put in.

"What? He's _Dusknoir_!" Feraligatr snapped. "He's the most famous Rescuer here! Show some respect!"

"Has he any other identification?" the Luxray enquired. "I understand that there might be a might Rescuer that is a Dusknoir, but were another Dusknoir to appear and wish to tell you something, how would you tell them apart?"

"...Dunno," Sudowoodo said quietly. "How _would_ we know?"

"How'd we-? Nobody'd _dare_ impersonate _the_ Dusknoir!" Tentacruel objected. "Dusknoir wouldn't let them!"

"If he knew," Blue mused. "If shit's falling apart, maybe he doesn't, y'know? How would he? This whole 'species, not names' thing is getting pretty fucking inconvenient…"

"Why should we trust _them_ over Dusknoir?" Feraligatr snapped. "How do we know you're _really_ this kid's sister? Or that this story about _human_ kids becoming gods is _true_?!"

"I can back her up," Blue said. "I've seen kids become gods. It's weird as hell, but it's real."

"I ain't seen it, but Doll here was my trainer an' I trust 'er," Pedro added, raising his wings and fluffing up his crest as he glowered at the other Pokemon.

"Me too," Eliza added.

"I can also vouch for what she's said," Melody added.

"There are a great many more voices corroborating with Sar Kanto's words than that of this mysterious Dusknoir," her husband added. "As for myself, I do not know this Dusknoir, but I do trust my wife and Sar Kanto."

"Well, I don't know any of _you_ ," Feraligatr said, turning up his snout. "Sounds to me like you're ganging up with that Grovyle thief to make Dusknoir the bad guy!"

"We all _saw_ Grovyle steal the Gear," Swampert added. "And we've _seen_ things falling apart. It's not just what Dusknoir says."

"Y'know what I think?" Octillery said, using four tentacles to sweepingly gesture towards both Team Badass and Team Unown. "I think they _do_ know the thief. I think they're workin' with him to steal the Gears!"

"We are not thieves!" Melody's husband exclaimed.

"We didn't steal anything! We just want to know-" Eliza began.

"Well, if you didn't steal anything," Blastoise said, holding up his claws in a pacifying gesture, "then you won't mind coming _peacefully_ back to the Guild to hash this out, will you?"

"Blastoise, ya _know_ me, ya bastard," Pedro snapped. "Ya worked with us tons a' times! Ya _know_ we ain't no thieves!"

"And we're wasting time here, anyway," Saylee added. "We need to find other Gears that are in danger! The Guildmaster mentioned that one's at Crystal Cave-"

"Yeah, right! Like we're bringing you along to steal the Gear!" Feraligatr snapped.

"But if we take them back to the Guild, we're wasting time," Blastoise said.

"We're wasting time _anyway_ with this argument!" Blue groaned in exasperation.

"You could go without them," Sudowoodo offered. "I could stay here and stand guard."

"Could you guard them all on your own?" Octillery asked suspiciously.

Sudowoodo shook her hands. A wall of rocks suddenly sprung up, hemming in Team Unown and Team Badass. The rocks floated a few centimeters off the ground, making it clear that Pedro couldn't just fly out. "Stone Edge," she said proudly.

"Yer kiddin' me!" Pedro snapped angrily.

"I don't think we have a choice but to stay here," Melody put in. Saylee looked at her in surprise and she winked. "You're right, we're wasting time. Go protect the Gear. And when you catch that Grovyle, you'll find out the truth, I'm sure."

"That's a good Stealth Rock," Cradily said approvingly. "They'll be safe here. C'mon, Team Constrictor and Team Hydro-we can protect the Gear ourselves!"

Looking a bit more heartened, the two Teams departed, vanishing into the mist. "What the _fuck_?!" Blue exclaimed, rounding on Melody. "We can't just _wait_ here while they go attack Silver!"

"He's got Suicune with him, at least, so I don't think they could hurt him," Saylee hoped. "Professor Hawkshaw…"

"Don't worry, dear, we won't be here long," Melody promised, smiling as she looked past the rocks. "River tells me there's more than meets the eye," she said to the Sudowoodo, her ribbons rippling in the direction of the R-shaped Unown.

The stones returned to the ground, sinking in as if they'd never been removed. As Saylee watched, the Sudowoodo _flickered_ and then, like a channel changing, the Sudowoodo disappeared and in her place was Uxie.

"I sent them to Crystal Cavern because it's already too late," Uxie said softly. Their voice didn't sound like Dawn's, but like the voice that Saylee had heard at Lake Valor when Dawn had dug the little yellow-and-grey Pokemon out of the mud. "Something's happened to Azelf. We can't hear them anymore, or Barry. That Gear will already be gone. Dawn is very upset," they added, sounded saddened.

"Something happened?" Saylee asked, thinking back to the moment before Silver had arrived, when she's felt a pain so strong she'd nearly blacked out. She'd put it down to talking about Red, but if it had coincided with Azelf being attacked… "It happened right after Silver left, didn't it?" she asked.

Uxie nodded. "It is… possible, perhaps, for one who knows how to travel around the Reverse to make it from here to there so quickly, but not without first taking the Gear… where it needs to go," they explained.

"Where's that, then?" Pedro asked.

"I'll explain on the way," Uxie said, floating away from them. "There is a third Gear still extant, in Sandy Desert. Mesprit is there, and nothing has yet happened, as far as we know… time here is a little odd, especially with…" They shook their head. "It isn't the Gears disappearing that's the problem. We have to go protect that last Gear from the _real_ threat."

"Let us waste no more time, then!" the Luxray said, rearing up on his hind paws. "On we must go!"

{}

{}

 _2/3 of the way through NaNoWriMo and I'm keeping ahead on wordcount… :D And getting chapters done!_

 _Also, I'm going about correcting a weird thing I started doing back when I first introduced the concept of avatars, where I generally referred to gods by the "opposite" gender to their avatar. Let's just say I've learned a_ lot _about gender in the past few years and I'm kinda embarrassed by that now. I'm shifting to referring to any legendary that isn't explicitly gendered in the games by they/them pronouns-the vast majority of gods in this universe are nb, it seems XD I don't know if I'll go back through the fics up until now to fix this, but from this point on the only gendered legendaries are Latios, Latias, Cresselia, Heatran, Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus, since from what I can find they're the only ones with genders ingame._

 _Pedro the Pidgeot, Eliza the Ekans, Saylee the Charmander, Blue the Snivy_

 _Belle the Roselia, Rapier the Budew, Key the Bulbasaur, Archie the Oshawott_

 _Melody the Sylveon, Bel the Luxray, Ghaliya the Girafarig, River the Unown, many and various other Unown_

 _Dawn the Uxie, Lucas the Mesprit, Barry the Azelf_

 _Silver the Grovyle, Suicune_


	59. Chapter 58

{ _Darnua 23rd, 4:14am}_

 _{Mt. Coronet}_

Barry groaned, clutching his head as he tried to open his eyes. Wherever he was was dry and faintly warm.

 _Hold on… is that hair on my head?_ he thought, opening his eyes as he kept patting his head, tugging slightly at his head and then holding his hands up in front of his face. Pink, four fingers and a thumb, a few blonde strands tangled in said fingers, all protruding from the orange-and-white sleeves of a sweater his mum had gotten him when he'd first declared his intent to travel as a trainer and do the gym challenge. "Am I human again?!" he yelled aloud, reaching up to his forehead again. The gem was there, small and smooth and warm.

He _still_ couldn't hear anything except that goddamn _ringing_ , like he had ever since that purple-haired woman had knelt on his head to hold him to the ground while she cut the gem out of his head-he pushed _that_ memory down _hard_ -but he felt something pawing at him, helping him sit up. _Dawn? Lou_? he thought, reaching out in his mind for the presences of his best friends. He knew some people didn't like psychic-types because they didn't like someone else rummaging around in their mind, and he could understand that, but Barry personally couldn't feel more comfortable with having his two favourite people in the world in his head. And now they were just _gone._

" _We can't reach them,_ " he heard Azelf telling him. " _They're still in the Reverse, but we're not_."

"We're not in the Reverse?!" he said, staring around. He seemed to be in a cave that was well-lit by the flames of several Infernape, Monferno, and a Rapidash, which was affectionately nuzzling a big, dark-haired guy who was sitting next to Key Weaves. She was surrounded by a number of other humans and Pokemon, including a large number of ghost-types, and appeared to be explaining something, though of course Barry couldn't hear her. "Where are we?!" he yelled.

Key stopped talking, trying to stumble to her feet and nearly falling over before being caught and propped up by one of the Infernape, who weirdly appeared to be wearing a flower that wasn't being set alight by the flames on the fire-type's head. A ghost that looked like several pink ribbons waving from the top of a dark brown Pumkin berry with a smiley face cut into it was hovering by the Infernape's head, straightening the rose. Several of the other humans and Pokemon turned to face Barry, some of their lips moving. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Barry yelled at them.

One of them, a girl with short blue hair, stepped forward, one hand raised in the air, then tapped her temples before pointing at him. She pointed between him and her own head repeatedly. "Are you psychic?!" Barry asked. She nodded. He gave her a thumbs up. "C'mon in and tell me what's going on!"

" _You don't need to yell,_ " a new voice said in his head. Barry recognized the feeling of a connection being made, and even if it wasn't quite like having Dawn or Lucas with him, it was a relief to be _connected_ at all again. He'd only been Azelf _and_ awake at the same time for less than a day, but he already felt lonely without somebody else linked to his mind.

" _I always yell,_ " he responded mentally. Speaking aloud just made his voice sound _weird_. " _Who're you?_ "

" _Sabrina,_ " the girl replied. " _Key told us that you're Barry, and you're Azelf's avatar. She said that you were all… elsewhere._ "

" _The Reverse! Azelf should explain that,_ " Barry said. " _They know more about it than I do…_ "

" _Let me link everybody else in so they can hear you,_ " Sabrina said, closing her eyes and furrowing her brow. Barry felt more connections appearing, dozens of them, but somehow it still wasn't quite as _much_ as having Dawn and Lucas with them.

 _Dawn, Lou, please be okay,_ he thought quietly, to himself.

" _If Dusknoir attacks them, they will simply return here,_ " Azelf promised. " _That is the nature of Dusknoir's attacks. In this realm, the attack can rip a person's soul from their body and send it straight to the Reverse, but used in the Reverse, it sent us, body and soul, back here… or soul, at least, for those don't have bodies._ "

The Infernape with the rose said something, reaching a hand up to the weird Pumkin Pokemon, which wrapped one of its pink ribbons around the Infernape's wrist. Barry patted his ears pointedly, and after a moment, he heard another new voice say uncertainly, " _this is why Belle and the others have returned to us as ghosts?_ "

" _Yes,_ " Azelf said. " _But we must return to fight that Dusknoir. With the Gears, he will achieve what he intended to do with the Red Chains; control Dialga and Palkia's powers to rebuild the world. Or at least, that is what he thinks he will achieve._ "

" _Cyrus!"_ Key's voice said as she visibly gasped. " _He's the one who told the Guild that a Grovyle was stealing the Gears and destroying the Reverse!_ "

" _What might these Gears be?_ " another voice asked. Barry looked around and a petite woman with short black hair raised a hand politely. " _My name is Erika. It is very nice to meet you, young man, even if this is all extremely strange. Now, what might these Gears be?_ "

" _The Gears are… replacements, of a sort, for Dialga and Palkia,_ " Azelf said hesitantly. " _The Reverse is Giratina's realm and Giratina's alone, since long before many other gods existed, including myself. Giratina allows those who have outlived their mortal form to exist there until... Well, it's hard to know what, because_ no _living being is supposed to trespass there, including Dialga and Palkia. In their place, to allow some semblance of time and space to exist, are the Gears. Merely moving them around would not destabilize the Reverse, and destroying them is… unlikely to be possible. Most likely, what is destabilizing the Reverse is Dialga and Palkia's presence there._ "

" _That is where they vanished to,_ " the berosed Infernape thought. " _They went into the Reverse?"_

" _I don't know why they would do something so foolish,_ " Azelf said, actually sounding frustrated. " _I can't figure it out at all. Uxie's Knowledge, not me. But they said that Dialga and Palkia were in the Reverse-they have to_ know _that they shouldn't be, but they are-and that Ho-oh is gathering the Gears to bring them all together. I can only assume that this will restabilize the Reverse and prevent whatever Cyrus is planning, but Ho-oh being there is even more foolish than Dialga and Palkia. Those Beasts that are bonded to Ho-oh-the Rebirth God brought them back from the dead. Ho-oh_ stole _them from Giratina, and if there is something that_ everybody _knows about Giratina, it's that they are not forgiving. They will make Ho-oh_ suffer _if they are found._ "

" _We have to go back and help!"_ Key argued. " _We can, can't we? Even though we're not dead?_ "

" _Giratina will also not be best pleased with_ our _presence,_ " Azelf warned.

" _And ours?_ " The Pumkin Pokemon asked. " _We who are already dead will be quite welcome,_ non? _"_

Barry saw the Infernape say something aloud, softly, squeezing the ribbon-paw that was wrapped around her own. Whatever it was, he felt a little embarrassed despite having not even heard it.

" _Belle is quite right!_ " declared a smaller, pink Pumkin-like Pokemon with its face buried in the brown fur on top. " _We are warriors who dedicated ourselves to saving the world from Galactic, and I intend to do so, regardless of which world_!"

" _I dedicated myself to the defense of ma belle reine,_ " the larger Pumkin Pokemon said softly, " _but I would gratefully take the chance to avenge the deaths of my comrades-and my own!"_

" _We can't just_ go back there _like it's so easy,"_ the big guy argued. " _Besides, what if we can't get back? Cyrus sent us back before, and I don't think he even knew that that was what he was doing._ "

" _The portal on the peak still remains,_ " the Infernape said. " _The Unown are watching it._ "

" _Ho-oh can send us back, if nothing else,_ " Azelf put in. " _We need to_ go!"

" _Hold on,_ " the Infernape said, raising a hand with a wicked grin. " _If you must return to this other realm… you ought to do so with all the reinforcements at your disposal._ "

{ _The Reverse_ }

Uxie's explanation of the situation, of what Dialga and Palkia's presence was doing to the Reverse, was sobering, as and they made their way to Sandy Desert through the shifting landscape, both Team Badass and Team Unown fell into a thoughtful silence. Saylee looked down at Team Unown-Ghaliya, Melody and her husband running beneath Pedro and his passengers.

"Hey, Pedro," she said, "can you drop me on that Luxray's back?"

"What's up?" Blue asked, peering down.

"Just something I need to check," Saylee said. Blue wrapped a couple of vines carefully around her, avoiding her tail. "Thanks!" she called as he lowered her down, Pedro flying low enough that Saylee could be dropped onto the running Luxray's back.

"Oh! Hello, Sar Kanto," he said in surprise, peering over his shoulder at her.

"Agent," Saylee said, gripping his fur to hold herself in place. "Or Mr Hawkshaw?"

"Beladonis Hawkshaw," he introduced himself formally. "It is a Kalosian name. Please continue to call me Looker, however, or Hawkshaw if you wish."

"On Mt Coronet you admitted that you weren't in Sinnoh with Interpol's sanction," Saylee said, looking at Melody, who caught her eye with a sad expression. "I guess I know why now."

Looker kept his eyes forward as he ran, jaw tightening. "I do not regret my choices, Sar," he said firmly. "You have seen for yourself how Galactic damaged law enforcement here in Sinnoh, to allow them to do as they wish. You have seen the many hostages that they have taken-my brother, they took his wife and children…"

"And they killed your wife," Saylee said. "I'm… not necessarily condemning you. In Eterna City, you _told_ us that you'd successfully infiltrated the building and gotten within inches of Jupiter, but instead you saved Di's life. That's pretty impressive for being face-to-face with the person who murdered somebody you love. I just wish you'd _told_ me. I _told_ you that I was here to investigate Galactic's connections to what happened in Lavender. We could've saved each other a lot of work and trouble if we were working together, not to mention I might've actually been able to swing something for those Orrens you hired as lackeys. Last I saw them, they weren't happy to know that Interpol doesn't have any visas for them, just so you know."

"Ah, yes…" Looker said guiltily. "They are not bad people, you know. Many people are not, given the opportunity. I agree that we could have worked together, Sar, but I was concerned that my unsanctioned presence would trouble you."

"Agent Looker, you remember exactly _what_ I was doing the first time we met? When you mistook me for a Pokemon thief and I was using a fake name and identity sanctioned by absolutely nobody at all?" Saylee said patiently. "Most of my _life_ consists of being an unsanctioned presence."

Melody burst out laughing. "She's right there, Bel," she said, nipping over to press a quick kiss against his cheek.

"In my defense, my thoughts have not been with perfect clarity these last few months," Looker said, nuzzling his late wife before she moved away again. "I apologize for not trusting you with this information, Sar, but at least you are not complicit in my lies to Interpol. And, for what it is worth, I did not _abandon_ the case which I was dispatched for. The poachers who we believe have travelled to Kanto are being quite successfully foiled by friends of mine."

"By 'friends' do you mean any form of law enforcement whatsoever?" Saylee pressed. "Or more criminals?"

" _Ex-_ criminals, quite experienced in the art of poaching," Looker insisted, "and quite eager to use their skills to foil the criminal activities of others, I assure you. Do you yourself not employ individuals who once worked for Team Rocket?"

"Yeah, but a good chunk of Kanto used to work for Rocket in some capacity, a lot of the time for lack of any other options, and it's not like _I_ have that many options," Saylee pointed out. "I figured Interpol didn't have that problem…"

"Ah, but when it comes to unsanctioned missions..." Looker said, grinning cheekily at her.

Saylee blinked in pain and ducked down into one of the longer patches of fur on Looker's back as sand abruptly stung at her face. "I guess we're in Sandy Desert," she said, tucking her tail around herself. "Uxie, are we close?" she called.

"We aren't far," Uxie responded. "According to Mesprit, nothing's happened yet, but-"

"Get down!" Ghaliya called, jumping in front of Melody and Looker and causing both to skid to a halt as something that wasn't sand whizzed past them. All Saylee saw was a blur of black and felt something icy cold.

"What the hell is that?" Blue yelled.

Saylee peered over Looker's shoulder. The Pokemon in front of them was slightly obscured by the swirling sand, but she could still make out a jagged yellow face outlined on a black body and the red glow of a single eye above. It was the single red eye in the black-and-grey shroud that tipped her off; she hadn't seen this particular Pokemon before, but she _had_ seen Duskull and Dusclops.

"I think I know who that is!" she called. "That's Dusknoir!"

"Not just Dusknoir!" Uxie cried. "He's a human! He's-"

Before Uxie could say whatever else the man was, a blast of blackness hit the Being of Knowledge and they vanished.

{}

{}

 _In the end, I didn't get to 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo this year, even including the two chapters I wrote. The release of Pokemon Sun and Moon is slightly to blame, but I also hit a pretty bad fog for a few days where I was just not functioning, let alone writing_. _But I'm doing better this week and the Arrowverse crossover week got me writing again, if only because I was sad that Winn never got to meet Cisco or Felicity, so… that's a good thing I guess? XP (I say this like I didn't originally_ start _writing fanfic because I was mad at manga I loved… XD)_

 _Pedro the Pidgeot, Eliza the Ekans, Saylee the Charmander, Blue the Snivy, Melody the Sylveon, Bel the Luxray, Ghaliya the Girafarig, River the Unown, many and various other Unown, Dawn the Uxie_

 _Belle the Roselia, Rapier the Budew, Key the Bulbasaur, Archie the Oshawott, Barry the Azelf_

 _Lucas the Mesprit_

 _Silver the Grovyle, Suicune_


	60. Chapter 59

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Mightyena! Wait!"

" _Polly_ ," the grey-and-black Pokemon snapped over her shoulder. "I asked you to call me by name."

"Right… sorry," Magnezone said, spinning their magnets as they followed after Polly. "Anyway, you should stay in town. The Teams will handle things."

"But what about that Absol Kangaskhan saw?" Polly said, sniffing the air. "I can smell them. They're still nearby. Shouldn't they stay in the town where it's safe too?"

"Absol are portents of disaster," Magnezone insisted. "It's probably something to do with everything going wrong!"

"That's not right," Polly argued. "I had a trainer when I was alive. She said it wasn't true that Absol _cause_ disasters-they see the future, and when they see disasters incoming, they try to help. They're probably trying to _stop_ everything falling apart!"

"Listen, I don't care _what_ your trainer told you, it's my job to keep everyone in this town safe, and that includes _you_ ," Magnezone said sternly. "I can't let you go out there alone."

"Why not? What's gonna happen to me? Oh no, something could kill me?" Polly snarked.

There was a chorus of laughter from somewhere above them. "Oh, I like her!" a voice called.

Polly and Magnezone both looked up at the large Pokemon that was hovering over them. It had long, ragged, ribbonlike black wings that didn't look like they should be able to hold up the hulking blue-and-black three-headed dragon.

"Hydreigon," Magnezone said suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"Oh, I heard the word 'disaster' and had to come see what was up," Hydreigon said. It was speaking from its centre head, the two on either side continuing to giggle. "I'm looking for some people I know, and chances are good that they're gonna be anywhere that a disaster is happening. Did you say something about a Pokemon that can find disasters?"

"Your friends remind me of my trainer and her friend," Polly chuckled. "There's an Absol out there, and I'd like to go find them and make sure they're okay. Magnezone here won't let me go alone, but if you go with me, I won't be alone, right?"

"I'm never alone," Hydreigon said, waving his side heads. "C'mon, then, Nose, let's go find this Absol."

"Fine!" Magnezone sighed, throwing up their magnets despondently. "But if you find this Absol, you can't bring them back here, got it? I won't have you bringing disaster down on this town."

"Whatever, we're gone," Polly said, rolling her eyes and running off after the scent, Hydreigon flying over her head. "Oh, and by the way, my name's Polly, not Nose, got it?" she snapped up at him. "It's important to me. I'm waiting for somebody, and I don't want to forget yet."

"I can respect that," Hydreigon said, triple-nodding. "My name's Lance, not Hydreigon. So, you've got a trail on this Absol?"

"They're not far," Polly said, chasing after the scent. It was still strong and clear, even though the geography of the world around her wasn't properly real, not like when she'd been alive. The scent probably wasn't really real either, but it was _there_ , and that was what mattered. "So who're these friends of yours?"

"Couldn't tell you what they'll look like," Lance said. "I was a human, and now I'm a Hydreigon, which is _amazing,_ but… also, they're not exactly _friends._ Just people I fight with."

"Fight with, like… on the same side, or against each other?" Polly asked, looking up at him.

"Yes," Lance said, his side heads cackling. "What about you? Human or Mightyena?"

"Mightyena," Polly said firmly. "And the one I'm waiting for is also a Mightyena. But my trainer and her friend were also pretty good at getting involved in trouble. Is that a human thing?"

"Quite possibly," Lance said, looking ahead of them and squinting at something. "Are you sure it's this way?"

"This is where the scent trail's going," Polly confirmed.

"I'll take your word for it," Lance said, frowning. "Only we're coming up on what looks like one nasty desert…"

"Yeah, I can smell the sand," Polly said, wrinkling her nose. "At least… I think I can. Sand usually smells like… lots of things, lots of little smells mixed together. This just smells like it's trying to smell like sand. You know?"

"Not even slightly, but I defer to your greater knowledge," Lance said, flying down a little closer to Polly as the desert came into sight, his bulk protecting her from some of the stinging sand.

"Thanks," Polly said. "Why're deserts always stormy? There isn't even any _wind_ here."

"Can you still smell alright?" Lance asked.

"The scents more real than the sand," Polly confirmed, following the trail. "I think they're nearby… there!"

"I see 'em!" Lance said, flying ahead.

" _Them?_ " Polly asked, moments before she spotted what Lance had seen. There was the Absol, like the one she'd seen with Saylee and Key, and next to it was a larger Pokemon that was a bit like it, but with no black fur and almost dwarfed under the bulk of nine huge tails.

"Ninetales and Absol? Now _there's_ a cursed combination," Lance chuckled, hovering over the two. "Hey, Absol, is it true that you can sense disasters?"

"It's Cynthia, and yes, apparently, except it feels like they're _everywhere_ right now," the Absol said, frowning up at Lance. "Who are you? Your voice sounds familiar..."

"Sir Lance Ryushi, which makes this form appropriate as well as awesome," Lance said, waving his side heads. "Cynthia… not Sar Cynthia Shirona, by any chance? I believe I saw you on the peak of Mt Coronet…"

"I remember you now," Cynthia said with a nod and a sigh. "I don't know if I should be glad to see somebody else from the peak here or annoyed that you've spiked my 'horrible nightmare that I'll wake up from soon' theory."

"You sure you're not just dreaming of me?" Lance said, waggling six eyebrows.

"Dead certain… oh, I'm sorry," Cynthia said, looking at the Ninetales.

"Actually, that's pretty funny," the Ninetales said with a smile.

" _Dead_ certain," Polly chuckled. "I need to say that more. I'm Polly, by the way," she added, since nobody was asking. "I have no idea who any of you humans are. Are you human too?" she asked the Ninetales.

"...I… don't know," the Ninetales said, smile fading. "I can't remember."

Despite the desert heat, Polly felt a chill run down her spine. It always unsettled her to see those who'd forgotten. Even those who _wanted_ to forget often got that lost, sad expression when asked who they were, because of course, they'd forgotten what they didn't want to remember.

"But he was just saying that he saw _Mesprit_ flying through here earlier," Cynthia said, raising a paw to pet the sad-looking Ninetales.

"Mesprit? _Here_?" Lance said in surprise. "Well, a _god'_ ll know what the hell's going on here, right?"

"There have been worse plans in human history," Cynthia said with a shrug, "like the one that landed us here, for example."

"Mesprit said that something horrible was going to happen and flew off pretty quickly," the Ninetales said, looking around in the direction that Mesprit had presumably gone. "I went looking for them, but, well… I nearly forgot I'd seen them before I ran into Cynthia here."

"If something horrible's gonna happen, we have to help!" Polly yapped. "And by that I mean help stop it from happening, not help something horrible happen."

"I like your style," Cynthia said, nodding to the Ninetales. "Show us the way you saw Mesprit go. We'll help you find them. Four heads are better than one, right?"

"Six!" Lance called.

"This way," the Ninetales said, running into the sandstorm with Polly, Cynthia and Lance on his heels.

"Sar Shirona, Mesprit's supposed to live in Sinnoh, right?" Lance asked. "What do you know about it?"

"Well, according to the legends I've read, Mesprit and the other-are you alright?" Cynthia asked as the Ninetales halted abruptly. "What's wrong?"

"Ninetales?" Polly asked, nipping at him. He had a glazed look in his deep red eyes.

"Sorry… what was that?" the Ninetales said, looking at Cynthia. "What were you saying?"

"I was just talking about Mesprit and the other two Beings of Spirit, Azelf and Uxie," Cynthia said. "Do you know something about them? Did you remember something?"

"I… don't know." Ninetales shook his head. "It's gone now. Maybe if you keep talking about them, I'll remember?" he suggested hopefully.

"Sure," Cynthia said gently, nudging him to get him moving again. "Anyway, the three Beings of Spirit were supposedly created to give knowledge, willpower and emotion to humans. Interestingly, the islands where they're said to live-well, I think that's been confirmed now, really-form an exactly equilateral triangle, and a perfect pyramid with the peak of Mt Coronet. There's a lot of theories on _what_ exactly that means, but nobody's quite sure because the peak of Coronet is slap-bang in the middle of the Fire Lord's territory and those wild Pokemon do _not_ let humans go up there."

"Until things with Galactic got serious enough?" Lance supplied.

Cynthia nodded. "Well, the new Fire Lord's the one Sar Kanto trained," she explained, "so she probably felt she could trust _certain_ humans to help deal with Galactic."

"Kanto?" the Ninetales asked. "The country?"

"You know it?" Cynthia asked. "Maybe you were from there?" Ninetales just blinked hard a few times, perhaps trying to get sand out of his eyes or maybe fighting with some thought, before he sighed and shook his head.

Can _memories come back if you've lost them?_ Polly wondered, watching the Ninetales' distant look. "It's okay," she said, nudging him. "I'm sure things will come back to you if you keep chasing those thoughts."

"Thanks," the Ninetales said quietly. "So who's Sar Kanto?"

"She's-" Cynthia began, cutting off as this time she froze up, staring up at the sand-swept sky with her hackles raised.

"What's wrong?" Lance asked.

"It's coming," Cynthia said just as the scent reached Polly's nose. She'd smelled it before, occasionally, and to her it was always the smell of pure rage.

She dropped to the ground, ears flattening against her skull as the foreboding red-and-black shadow swept overhead. The Ninetales also crouched, curling his tails over himself nervously, and Lance dropped closer to the ground even as he stared up in awe at the heavy presence of Giratina.

Polly whined unhappily as Giratina screeched its distorted, jangling cry. She stayed flat to the sand after the shadow had passed, all her fur standing on end.

"Was that it?" Lance said reverently. "Was that Giratina?"

"Is it okay?" Cynthia asked, still staring at the sky where Giratina had been. She alone didn't seem cowed by the Lord of the Reverse's overwhelming presence.

"What do you mean, _okay_?" Polly whimpered. "It's _Giratina._ They're probably _angry._ They're _always_ angry."

"So I've heard, but… that cry…" Cynthia shook her head. "It didn't just sound _angry_. It sounded like… it was in pain. Hurting… or _sad_ , maybe..."

"Probably Cyrus' fault," Lance offered. "Whatever the hell he did on the peak did something to Giratina, maybe? I don't know what he did, but it's probably his fault."

"I'd take those odds," Cynthia said wryly.

"It went in the direction that Mesprit went," Ninetales said tentatively.

"Are we totally, completely sure we wanna go that way?" Polly said, standing up slowly. "I mean, I want to help Mesprit too, but… Giratina wouldn't let anybody tear this world up, right? This is _their_ place. I wouldn't want to have to go through _Giratina…_ " She dropped to the ground again as Giratina's fading scent grew stronger again. " _It's coming back_!" she whined.

"It's not just Giratina…" Ninetales said, sniffing the air, his tails puffed up again.

Polly squinted through the sandstorm. Something was coming towards them at ground level, smaller and less oppressive than Giratina. Whatever it was was shining brightly.

She barely got a glimpse of what it was as it barrelled past them, but she got enough of a look to see what looked like a weird-coloured Grovyle between a mass of brown and a shining pink light.

Following closely after them was a tiny pink-and-grey figure who stopped in front of them long enough to yell, "GET AWAY FROM HERE!" before shooting off after the weird Grovyle and whatever it was riding/carrying. Polly glanced at Cynthia and Ninetales before the three of them broke into a run. Lance had flown off as soon as the tiny Pokemon had started yelling.

Behind them, Giratina's jarring cry shattered through the air, louder and angrier than before.

"That's Mesprit!" Cynthia yelled as they shot after the fleeing figures. "And that Grovyle-it's riding _Entei_!"

"If Entei's here, does that mean Ho-oh is too?" Lance called. "No _wonder_ Giratina's so pissed off!"

Mesprit flitted back to the four of them. "What are you _doing_?!" they cried desperately. "Giratina's after _us_! Don't _follow_ us!"

"Mesprit, I'm not just any Pokemon, I'm Sar Cynthia Shirona!" Cynthia called. "I'm here because I want to _help_ you!"

"I _know_ who you are, I can _see-_ " Mesprit began.

"Mesprit!" the Grovyle yelled. "I'm gonna try another way out! Take the Gear!" Mesprit flitted forwards, plucking the shining pink light out of the Grovyle's hands. As soon as they did, the Grovyle leapt off of Entei's back, _shifting_ in mid-air-

A gigantic, pale-green Onix plunged towards the ground, burrowing into the sand. Entei immediately ran into the tunnel left behind, with Mesprit flying close on its tail. Polly didn't hesitate to chase after them, Cynthia and Ninetales running at her side as they dove down into the dark tunnel that was just large enough for Lance to fly after them. Giratina's shrieks chased them down the tunnel and into the darkness until-

Until they ran out of tunnel, and they were falling through the air.

{}

{}

 _I would like to send out oceans of love once again to the superlative Songwithnosoul who, aside from being my only commenter most of the time, has drawn a fantastically creepy bit of Unown art based on an idea for Eldritch Abomination Unown that we discussed ages ago :D FFnetters, I'm sure you know the drill:_

 _.com (slash) art (slash) The-Depths-650556306_

 _Pedro the Pidgeot, Eliza the Ekans, Saylee the Charmander, Blue the Snivy, Melody the Sylveon, Bel the Luxray, Ghaliya the Girafarig, River the Unown, many and various other Unown, Dawn the Uxie_

 _Belle the Roselia, Rapier the Budew, Key the Bulbasaur, Archie the Oshawott, Barry the Azelf_

 _Lucas the Mesprit,Silver the Grovyle, Suicune, Entei, Lance the Hydreigon, Cynthia the Absol, Polly the Mightyena, Ninetales_


	61. Chapter 60

{ _The Reverse_ }

"GHALIYA!" Melody cried as the Girafarig vanished in a blast of black light. Looker tackled her to the ground to dodge a second attack from Dusknoir.

"The hell's it doin'?" Pedro squawked.

"I don't know, but I don't want to find out!" Saylee yelled. "Pedro, don't get hit, but you need to keep Dusknoir's attention!"

"On it, Doll!" Pedro called before swooping towards Dusknoir, forcing the red-eyed ghost-type to focus on their aerial attacker.

"I notice that you say only to keep Dusknoir's attention," Looker said, taking the moment to step back and let Melody get to her feet.

"Professor Hawkshaw, all Eeveelutions can use Bite," Saylee said, "and Agent Looker, Luxray can use Crunch."

"All things which will cause great harm to a ghost," Looker acknowledged. "And you, Sar, will be able to use Smokescreen, will you not?"

"Let's find out," Saylee said, closing her eyes for a moment and thinking back to when she first started training Chaz and the first few times he'd used Smokescreen. _Take a deep breath, then… it was like he_ coughed _the smoke up…_

As soon as she thought it, she could _feel_ the smoke building in her throat, and she coughed out a plume of thick, black smoke that seemed far larger than what her throat should reasonably be able to hold. As long as she kept exhaling, more smoke continued to appear, and she ignored the burn of pain that told her she needed to _breathe_ , reminding herself that she _didn't_ , not really.

The ongoing sandstorm whipped up the smoke, but rather than dissipating it, the smoke was churned and spread all around them, hiding Dusknoir, Looker, Melody and Saylee from each others' sight.

"Melody, stay close," Looker said quietly. "With Luxray eyes, I can see through this smoke very well." Saylee saw one of Sylveon's pale ribbons extend towards Looker and reached out to touch it, letting it wrap around her wrist and hold on. The ribbon was warm and soft in an unsettling way, but Saylee brushed that off and clung to it, continuing to exhale smoke as hard as she could.

Above, she could hear Pedro flying past, still attacking Dusknoir. Pidgeot couldn't see through walls like Luxray could, but Pedro's eyes were still more than keen enough to see through the the thick black smoke. She sensed an unusual heat and looked around to see tiny balls of blue light flickering to life in the air around them.

"Will-O-The-Wisp," Melody said. "Bel, he's trying to see through the smoke! Let's _go_!"

Looker nodded, charging forwards with Melody following closely, dodging through the tiny blue flames until, with a snarl, he bit down on Dusknoir. Once Dusknoir was down, Melody jumped on it, sinking her teeth into Dusknoir's left arm while Looker worried at the ghost's right shoulder. Dusknoir's enraged scream sounded… familiar.

Saylee stopped exhaling smoke, reflexively drawing in a deep breath and coughing a couple of times to clear the last of the smoke from her throat. Only once she'd stopped exhaling smoke did it slowly start to dissipate.

"Pedro!" she shouted. "We've got him! Can you clear the smoke?"

"I see ya, Doll!" Pedro called. The wind strengthened as he beat his powerful wings several times to clear the smoke away.

"Ah… it's _you_ , Sar Kanto," Dusknoir said flatly. "Of course it is. Who else would be interfering so, even _now_?"

"Cyrus," Saylee realized, staring down at Dusknoir as the smoke cleared and the ghost became visible, struggling weakly against Looker and Melody's jaws. "What the _hell_ are you doing _now_?"

"You think I would give up so easily on repairing the world?" Cyrus said. "What I do not understand is _you_. All of you. You must know where we are now-that we are, all of us, already dead. What do you care for the world _now_? The world that brought all of us nothing but suffering and death?"

"Hey, it ain't _nothin'_ but sufferin'," Pedro said, landing next to Looker. Eliza took a look at Looker and Melody, then added her own Bite in, clamping down on Dusknoir's tail.

"Maybe for some people," Blue said, hopping from Pedro's back to stand on the sand next to Cyrus, "and if your life's been nothing but suffering, then yeah, I feel a little sorry for you. But then I remember that your people have been hurting and killing whoever they want so you can have your tantrum and your do-over, and then I stop feeling sorry."

"And do _not_ say the consequences of your actions don't matter if you're going to undo everything _anyway_ ," Saylee added sharply. "That's just a cop-out because you don't want to take responsibility for the suffering _you've_ caused."

"You will never understand," Cyrus said calmly. "You fight against that which you perceive as _injust_ , that which you perceive as _wrong_ , and in the grand scheme of things you achieve nothing because your injustices are built into the fabric of our universe. And you call _me_ evil for daring to face the source of the problem, for daring what people like you are not brave enough to accomplish? Just and injust, right and wrong… these things are not _real_ , and if you cannot clear your mind of such delusions, you will never achieve _anything._ "

"Anybody else more'n done listenin' ta this guy talk?" Pedro commented. "He ain't changin' _my_ mind, anyway, and it don't sound like we're changin' his. How 'bout we take 'im back ta the Guild an' let the Guildmaster know he ain't who he says he is?"

"Good point," Saylee said, narrowing her eyes on Dusknoir. "You told the Guild that a Grovyle was causing this world to collapse by stealing Gears, but that was _you_ , wasn't it?"

"Oh, the Grovyle's been stealing too," Cyrus said calmly. "Perhaps he thinks if he brings enough of the Gears to Dialga and Palkia, he can stop their… deterioration. I, on the other hand, believe that their reversion is inevitable without _all_ of the Gears…"

"So where are the Gears _you_ stole?" Blue demanded. Looker, Melody and Eliza all growled, visibly tightening their bites.

"You think I'm going to _tell_ you?" Cyrus laughed. "Pain is nothing but a memory here. You cannot _make_ me tell you. And even if I told you now, _it would be too late._ One way or another, this world will be remade!"

His red eye turned black, his entire body beginning to crackle with energy. "Get away from him!" Melody cried, releasing him and tackling Looker away from the Dusknoir. Eliza let go and slithered away just before Cyrus vanished into black light.

Both the sandstorm and smoke slowly dissipated, leaving them all staring at empty sand.

"What the _fuck_ ," Blue said eventually, staring at the sand where Dusknoir had been.

"We _need_ to find those Gears," Melody said urgently. "Whether Dialga and Palkia are better off with the Gears or without them… either way, it'll be easier to do if we know where the Gears are."

"I don't get him at all," Saylee muttered, shaking her head. "He's so damn _confident_ that what he's doing is right…"

"Often a trait of somebody doing something wrong," Looker said softly, putting a paw on Saylee's shoulder. "It is only those who can perceive right and wrong who worry about the difference. Do not let him shake you, Sar. Even if the ideas of justice and rightness exist only in our minds… that does not mean that they do not _exist_."

"After all, there's no better place than _this_ to prove that what exists in our minds is not necessarily unreal," Melody said, nodding at the desert around them.

Looker nodded in agreement. "If justice and right exist only in our minds… how else can we make them real but by believing them?" he said. "Sir Blue is right that wanting to wipe everything and start over only makes all that has happened up until now meaningless."

"Hey, I'm not _Sir_ of anything," Blue protested, sounding genuinely offended.

"It isn't meaningless, Saylee," Eliza said, nudging her head against Saylee's, "is it?"

"No," Saylee said, stroking Eliza's head and looking up at Pedro. "I've always coped with… losing you… losing _anybody_ by deciding that it _means_ something. Suffering always _means_ something, even if I have to _make_ it. I couldn't cope with losing somebody I care about for nothing."

"Ya won't hafta, Doll," Pedro said, nuzzling her head, "so long as ya keep thinkin' like that."

"If we have to _make_ the world be just, then we fucking _will_ ," Blue said, putting one of his tiny paws in Saylee's. "You're not alone in thinking that way, y'know. At the end of the day, we all need to feel like we made a difference. Cyrus just doesn't care what happens to others while he does what he wants, and he's good at saying whatever'll make people agree with him, like playing the selfless hero. He's not selfless. He's a selfish bastard, and I am _not_ gonna let _that_ much of an asshole destroy the reality that everyone I care about's struggled so fucking hard to stay alive in."

"Weird to hear _you_ giving such an altruistic speech," Saylee chuckled, squeezing his paw.

"Compared to Cyrus? I'm the fucking spirit of giving," Blue said with a grin. "I mean… sure, on paper, Cyrus' plan makes a sort of sense, if you ignore the feelings of everything that exists. You don't end suffering by making a world where nobody _can_ feel suffering, right?"

"You make that world by ensuring that nobody wants anybody else to suffer," Saylee replied. "Thanks. I hate to admit it, but he _did_ shake me for a moment there."

"He's good at that," Melody said softly. "Remember, he recruited most of his people by swaying people's minds and convincing them to fully believe in his cause, enough to _kill_ for. Just because he's charismatic, or entertaining, or makes you feel good, doesn't mean he's _right_. One person making decisions for an entire populace? Historically speaking, that's _never_ been right."

"We can worry about the philosophy later," Looker sighed. "For now, we must concern ourselves with the job that is in front of us: this world is collapsing, and it is most likely something to do with what Cyrus referred to as Dialga and Palkia's deterioration. What I feel, in this moment, to be right, is preventing such deterioration. If I think it through, not as a generality but in this particular moment, I feel _certain_ that preventing such deterioration is right. So we must find either Dialga and Palkia or the missing Gears, yes?"

"Golden rules are for lazy assholes who don't want to think through the consequences of their actions," Blue declared. "But I can't think of a situation where letting a world collapse on itself is a _good_ idea. How do we find the Gears or the Gods?"

"Is there a specific place they'd appear, Professor Hawkshaw?" Saylee asked Melody.

"Well… recently, I have heard other Pokemon speaking of a Xatu on The Hill Of The Ancients who seems to know things," Melody said thoughtfully. "Around the time that all of you appeared, in fact," she added, nuzzling her husband. "If anybody might know where to go next, I'd say he's a good place to start."

"I notice your little friends are conspicuously absent," Looker said dryly, looking up at the sky.

"Oh, I feel like the Unown shall be there if we need them," Melody said airily. "Shall we go?"

Saylee nodded. "Let's go save the world," she said, grinning at Blue, Eliza and Pedro.

" _Again,_ " Blue said, throwing up his hands in mock exhaustion.

{}

{}

 _I hope you're all having a very happy whatever you celebrate at this time of year! Caveat: most of this chapter and this entire A/N was written while very drunk and it was a while before sobriety and free time intersected, so I'm sorry this one took a while to get out. It was meant to be Christmas, then New Year's… well, it's here now XP_

 _I want to express my gratitude to all the guests on FFnet who've reviewed lately, even if you're all the same person; I love songwithnosoul very dearly for always, always reviewing, and I want to keep writing so long as even only one person keeps reading, but it also means a lot to hear from others who enjoy this fic. I apologize for not keeping my weekly schedule, but I've been really struggling with depression this year and one of the things my therapist has me working on is not hating myself for "not doing enough" (which starts a negative cycle where I can't do ANYTHING) and instead just focusing on what I can do at any given moment and being proud of doing it. I am determined to not be one of those writers who withholds updates until I get X number of reviews and I promise that I will never withhold chapters for reviews, but there's also no denying that when I'm feeling extremely low, a single nice review can brighten my whole day and get me writing more that day than I would otherwise. Begging for updates, on the other hand… doesn't really help. It makes it too easy to be shitty to myself about not doing "enough", and in simple terms I write more when I don't hate myself. I'm trying not to shit on myself for not keeping a weekly schedule and just writing what I can when I can, and I appreciate your understanding and your patience while I wrestle my own brain into submission. She's a stubborn bitch, but so am I._

 _Maybe this isn't a particularly Christmassy or general holiday-y chapter, except that it has a lot of influences in my favourite Christmas novel,_ The Hogfather. _There's also a pretty decent TV-movie adaptation, if you have four hours to spare. It's part of my religious canon, the Discworld novels by Sir Terry Pratchett, and tells the story of a winter deity going missing, forcing Death of all people to step in to keep belief alive while his granddaughter Susan tries to find out what happened to said deity. Discworld novels are extremely weird to describe. Anyway, near the end of the book there's a conversation between Death and Susan that has always affected me deeply._

"All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... _fantasies_ to make life bearable."

REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"

YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE _LITTLE_ LIES.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

"They're not the same at all!"

YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN _SHOW_ ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME _RIGHTNESS_ IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"

MY POINT EXACTLY.

…

YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY _BECOME_?

 _As Sir Pterry said, I would rather be a rising ape than a falling angel. As Susan says, I would rather get angry than get afraid. I feel like in the future, we are all going to need to believe in things that are not physically true, like justice and mercy, to make them real. I think we must face frightening things with focused, productive rage. My depression makes it very easy for me to feel hopeless about the future, but I would rather be angry than sad. I can't do anything when I'm sad. When I'm angry, at the very least, I can find the strength to stand up for others, even when I can't feel like protecting myself. I believe in understanding those who hold different views from ourselves, but I also believe that when people's lives are in danger, we must be willing to stand up and deal with the reality where people are dying and worry about the fine points of philosophy later, when we have the luxury of nobody suffering and dying because of others' beliefs._

 _I'm sorry if this somewhat drunken A/N has run on, but TL;DR: Cyrus is wrong. This world is not so lost that we cannot make it worth living in, so long as we are willing to_ make _it worth living in._

 _So at the end of this year, I hope you are enjoying whatever celebration you are having, and I hope that 2017 is good to you, and that you are good to yourself and those around you._


	62. Chapter 61

{ _The Reverse_ }

Cynthia was aware first of the sound of moving water. She couldn't figure out if it was a flowing river or the sound of rain, but some of it was definitely tickling her face. Her fur felt sodden…

Fur?

She blinked a few times, staring at her white paws, tipped with blue-black claws. _I'm… an Absol,_ she remembered. _I don't know why, but I am…_

She lifted her head, looking around blearily. A Mightyena was lying not far away, apparently still unconscious. There was a Ninetales curled up near to her, shivering unhappily in the spray and apparently trying to hide under his own pile of tails. He was being semi-shielded by Entei, who was keeping an intent eye on a Hydreigon who appeared to be talking to Mesprit further down… whatever they were lying on.

She stood up, pressing her paws experimentally against the smooth purple surface. It had random white patches and was warm and slightly springy.

"Sar Cynthia! Good morning!" the Hydreigon- _Sir Lance Ryushi_ , she recalled-called cheerily. "Enjoy your nap? Check out the waterfall!"

"The-?" Cynthia said, taking a more focused look at their surroundings. They almost seemed to be in space, surrounded by darkness and random sprays of light, but whatever they were on was descending through a waterfall, which was the source of the spray. She tilted her head as she looked up the flow of water-she couldn't see the top or where it was coming from. _Something's off_ , she thought with a frown. _Aside from all the obvious things… I can't see what's splitting the water above us, either, but it's definitely flowing either side of-wait…_

"...Are we upside-down and somehow feeling no ill effects, or is that water flowing _up_?" she demanded.

"Don't know, but it's a real headfuck, isn't it?" Lance said with the most bizarre shrug that Cynthia had ever seen. "If you thought seeing a Grovyle turn into a Wailord was weird-"

"A-? We're on a _Wailord_ ," Cynthia realized, looking down at the purple surface under their feet or paws. "Why's it purple?"

" _That's_ what's confusing you here?" Lance said, sounding amused.

"No, but I thought I might get an explanation for that one," Cynthia said, looking to Mesprit. "Where are we going?"

"The Spacial Rift," Mesprit explained. "The Gear that I was guarding in the desert belongs to Palkia. They're going to need it back. Don't worry," the tiny legend added, "we lost Giratina. Ho-oh seems to think that Giratina won't be able to find us around here because of the spatial distortions."

"And Ho-oh's here too," Cynthia said, wishing she had hands to rub her forehead with. She wasn't entirely confident that she wouldn't accidentally claw herself in the eye. "Okay. Where is Ho-oh, and how do _we_ know where to go if the spatial distortions are so bad?"

"Fun fact: seems like most god Pokemon can control what form they take around here, even if they can't go for 'human'," Lance said, gesturing at the Wailord they were riding on. "So there he is. Seems he decided to go for a big one to carry you, Polly and Ninetales after you passed out."

"And in answer to your second question," Mesprit added, "Ho-oh has the Space Gear. Apparently, it's telling the- _him_ where to go."

"And where… _are_ we going?" Ninetales asked, sounding a little pained. "Tell me it's dry."

"We're going to the Spacial Rift," Entei explained. Their voice was so deep, like the rumble of an earthquake, that it was almost _felt_ rather than heard. "There are dry parts of it, but also rainy and foggy parts. Space is more distorted there than anywhere else. The Gear will lead our way, but I can't promise fair weather. You don't have to come with us," they added gently.

"I'm here already," Ninetales said, resting his head on his paws. "And I want to help. Space and time breaking down sound like something that'd endanger everybody here. Thanks for shielding me, though," he added, looking up at Entei. "It doesn't hurt you?"

"Not a little bit of spray like this," Entei assured him. "Neither pain nor fear can touch me when I am at my Master's side."

"I've always wondered… what exactly _is_ the relationship between you, Suicune, Raikou and Ho-oh?" Cynthia asked, trying not to think of how the rainbow god in question was currently a purple Wailord playing ferry service. It was just too weird. "There are all sorts of stories, like that Ho-oh laid an egg that the three of you were born from, or that Ho-oh defeated a tsunami, volcanic eruption and thunderstorm in battle and made them their servants, or…"

"You can't best a volcano in battle," Entei said, looking a little nonplussed. "You could fight _Groudon_ if you wanted, maybe, but a volcano's just a thing. And the three of us weren't anything so powerful. We were just three normal, regular little Eevee. I wanted to be a Flareon," they remembered wistfully. "None of us had found the stones we needed to evolve. We thought that maybe, if we went and prayed… so we went to Lugia's tower first. But that day, human interference enraged Lugia. Their rage consumed the city, but the only lives lost were our three. Master arrived in time to prevent the raging fires from killing anybody else, and in their benevolence, declared us innocent and restored our lives, making us stronger than we could ever have hoped to be when alive." It was hard to see under all the thick facial fur, but it looked to Cynthia like Entei was smiling. "Master believes that mortals ought to respect their gods, but not fear them. That gods ought to pass judgement, but have no right to be unjust. So they saved and resurrected us… but at the price of angering Giratina, for reclaiming dead souls that the Lord of the Reverse felt our Master had no right to."

"That being why Giratina was chasing you in the desert back there?" Lance asked. Entei nodded.

 _Was that right for Ho-oh to do?_ Cynthia wondered, not daring to ask the question aloud in case she pissed off her ride. _It was beyond generous, from the point of view of the living, to restore them. But if existing after death is a sure thing-and from the looks of it, the balance between this world and the living world is pretty tenuous-then was it really okay to interfere like that without consulting Giratina? Just look at the damage Cyrus has done, after all…_

"We're here," Mesprit said, flying over to wake Polly. Cynthia tried to look down to see the Spacial Rift, but she couldn't see anything over the Wailord that they were all still standing on.

"C'mon, then, earthbound," Lance said, flying over and wiggling his ragged tail at Cynthia. "Care for a ride to whatever passes for solid ground around here?"

"Just watch where that tail goes," Cynthia growled, clambering up the tail and onto the dragon's back. She looked over to see Mesprit wrapping their tails around the slowly-stirring Mightyena, while Entei seemed to be quietly telling Ninetales something. As Lance and Mesprit flew off of the Wailord's back, it shrank rapidly, changing in colour and form to become a massive golden Steelix, with Entei and Ninetales still perched on its head. The two ran down the massive Steelix's back until they reached the bare rock below. The Steelix opened its mouth, setting the complex pink shape of the Gear onto the ground before shifting form again, becoming a small pink Weavile with a golden head-crest.

"Pink? _Really_?" Ho-oh mumbled, reminding Cynthia that Ho-oh was, according to what she'd been told, currently residing in the body of a teenage boy, whose soul and consciousness were both bound up with the god's. "Whatever. Right, we've gotta go in there to reach Palkia," he announced, pointing. Cynthia looked around, but she couldn't see any _in_ to go into, just a broad expanse of blueish stone and rubble. The waterfall that had carried them down was flowing up from no visible source of water.

"In _where_?" Polly asked.

"In… just a sec, I really wanted to try Weavile, but I'm going back to Grovyle," Ho-oh-or possibly his avatar-said as his form shifted again, back into the red-leaved Grovyle he'd been before. "I like red better. Anyway…" he paused, staring at Entei and Ninetales. "You alright?" he asked.

"Feeling better now we're out of the water," Ninetales said, shaking his ears out. "Where do we go now, Ho-oh?"

"It's Silver," the Grovyle said, staring at Ninetales for a long moment before picking up the Gear- _how_ he was doing that, Cynthia couldn't figure out, but he was definitely carrying the thing-and turning back to the indistinct expanse of bare rock that he'd indicated before. "I've brought a couple of Gears here before and space is… kinda really fucked up around here," he explained. "Everybody stick _really_ close, okay? You should be fine if you stick really close to the Gear, but if you stray you could get lost. There _are_ some Pokemon lost in there, and most of 'em are assholes. But if we do get into a fight, do _not_ let them get you too far away from the Gear, okay? Otherwise you could get lost in there too and I'm not coming back to get you. Once Palkia's got all the Gears back and calms their shit, they'll probably be able to get all the lost souls in there out, but until then finding the Gears comes first."

"I respect the pragmatism," Lance said, hovering just over the form of the Gear. The rest of them drew close as they followed Silver across the plains…

...into the caves that had _not_ been there a minute before, but now, going by the formation of the rock layers, they were _very_ deep underground. "That… was _weird_ ," Polly said, blinking. "Is that going to happen a lot?"

"Yep, so suck it up," Silver said, looking at Ninetales. "Hey, you, question… you a human or a Pokemon?"

"I don't really know," Ninetales said, blinking in surprise. "I can't remember."

"Huh," Silver said quietly. "It's just weird. I can see that that Hydreigon and Absol are human-don't ask how, it's a thing-and Polly there isn't, but you… you look kinda human once in a while."

"Earlier, when I was telling you some stories I'd read about Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie, you did seem like you remembered something for a second," Cynthia said. Ninetales blinked rapidly.

"There! It happened again while you were talking!" Silver said, pointing at Ninetales with the hand that wasn't carrying the Gear. "You-hold that thought," he said, as the cave around them shifted. They narrowly missed falling over a cliff, with a river roaring past a few feet away, the waterfall rising into the ceiling rather than over the cliff. "Everybody keep close while we jump off this cliff, okay?"

"While we _what_ ," Polly said flatly.

"We will not fall all the way down," Entei assured them.

"Good, because I don't see any bottom to hit," Lance said, peering over the cliff edge before moving back towards the Gear.

"You're right, we should totally be careful not to get ourselves killed" Silver said, rolling his eyes. "Three… two… one… GO!"

They all leapt together, but after no more distance than hopping over the bottom couple of steps on a staircase, they found themselves on a mountainside. "And I heard space was getting weird around _Mt Coronet_ …" Cynthia muttered, pawing the cold, bare rock beneath her paws.

"My sister told me about winding up in a pocket dimension like this once," Silver said, leading them on again, "but _way_ more fucked up."

"Knowing a little about your sister, as my avatar does, I am entirely unsurprised," Mesprit said dryly.

"Does _everybody_ here know Sar Kanto?" Lance laughed. "She does get around!"

"Hey! You're Saylee's brother?" Polly said excitedly. "She was my trainer! Wow, small world, huh?"

"I'd hope she's keeping her damn head down, but that is so not happening ever," Silver grumbled, looking at Ninetales. "It happened again. You looked kinda…"

"I felt something when they brought up Kanto before," Ninetales explained. "I think I lived there when I was alive."

"I wonder how you could be connected to _us_ , then," Mesprit said with a frown. "I was of the understanding that most gods were little known in Kanto… which might explain a lot about the place."

"Well… I didn't remember anything when Sar Cynthia started explaining about you before," Ninetales admitted, flicking his tails. "But _something_ in what she said sounded familiar."

"People die a lot in Kanto," Silver said with a frown. "Hell, depending on when you died, _you_ might know Saylee too… Hey, stick close!" he yelled as Ninetales stopped abruptly.

"Hello?" Mesprit said, waving a tail in front of ninetales' face. "He definitely knows your sister," they said to Silver. "That was a _very_ powerful emotional response to her name."

"Saylee…" Ninetales muttered. "I _know_ her. I know…" he looked around. "Is she here? Is she safe?"

"Probably, and literally never," Silver said, shaking his head. "Look, once we've dropped this Gear off, we can go find her, okay? Maybe talking to her'll help you remember who you are."

" _You_ got any ideas who he is?" Lance asked.

"I've only known her a few years, I dunno who _all_ her dead friends are," Silver grumbled.

"She does have a lot," Polly said sagely.

"Thank you," Ninetales said sincerely. "How long until we reach Palkia, do you know?"

"Actually… looks like we lucked out," Silver said. Looking around, Cynthia realized that the fluctuating cave formations around them had actually _stopped_ fluctuating and that they were on an apparently stable and rapidly widening path.

The darkness ahead of them was deep and impenetrable, but the glow of the Gear brightened and a sound like distorted chime bells echoed through the cave.

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 _The fact that Palkia's location in Explorers of Time is spelled "_ _ **Spacial**_ _Rift" kept fucking me up while writing this. I didn't even know you could spell it that way._

 _I arise from the depths of visa paperwork and a depressive fuge that I'm sure was not related to any real-world events that happened in late January, like around the twentieth when absolutely nothing of note happened I'm sure, with a chapter to reassure y'all that I'm still alive and writing! I've actually been writing quite a bit, just not this very often-the important thing's just been writing every day. A lot of stuff are random ideas that are probably never going to see the light of day, but I have also written about three-quarters of a Young Justice fic that I might post soon. Keep an eye out for that if you're into that show and as excited for season three as I am XD_

 _I wanna give a lot of love to the Fabulous Key-chan, as ever, for continual support on making this fic happen and also describing Palkia's cry as "distorted chime bells" when I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to describe that weird bleepy noise XD_


	63. Chapter 62

_A/N: I LIVE! Both in the sense that I feel more like a living person now that my laptop's arrived and I have a phone, and in the sense that I now live_ in Japan. _Still doesn't feel real. Still feels awesome._

 _It's been a while, huh? Of course I had Ideas when I didn't have a laptop and I'm working through typing up all the stuff I scribbled in the back of my travel journal (...took up more space than my actual travel notes…) in between work and work-related paperwork, but it's been long enough that I had to make a separate set of notes just detailing out who is where so I could keep track of them. I PUT TOO MANY CHARACTERS IN THIS FIC. Since I needed a refresher I'm sure you do too, so before this chapter, a full dramatis personae:_

UPON MT. CORONET: _**KEY WEAVES**_ _(A Champion of Hoenn, and A Natural Blonde, Thank You);_ _ **ARCHIE IRVING**_ _(A Criminal of Hoenn, with A Bad Dye-Job);_ _ **BARRY JUN**_ _(Azelf, God Of Willpower, and A Noisy Boy);_ _ **DAWN HIKARI**_ _(Uxie, God of Knowledge, and also A Know-It-All);_ _ **SABRINA**_ _(A Leader of Kanto, and Teenaged Psychic);_ _ **ERIKA DE CELADON**_ _(A Leader of Kanto, and A Responsible Mentor);_ _ **FIRE LORD CAELIN**_ _(An Infernape, with many Anger Management Issues);_ _ **ONE-EYED SAL**_ _(A Luxray, and Steed to the Fire Lord);_ _ **STAR**_ _(A Luxray, A Sister and Aggressively Possessive);_ _ **ZOE**_ _(A Crobat, and the Fire Lord's Chief Spy and Scout);_ _ **BELLE**_ _(Formerly A Roselia, now A Gourgeist, still A Flirt);_ _ **RAPIER**_ _(Formerly A Budew, now A Pumpkaboo, Still Intending To Fight Everything);_ _ **SHANKS**_ _(Formerly A Sharpedo, Now A Gengar, Still Kind Of An Asshole);_ _ **RAIDEN**_ _(A Rotom, and Always A Ghost, Not Actually Really Dead);_ _ **PEGASUS**_ _(A Rapidash, Who Feels He Is An Unrivalled Beauty);_ _ **WARIN**_ _(A Beautifly, Who Feels He Is An Unrivalled Beauty, It's In His Name And Everything, Pegasus)_

UPON THE SUMMIT OF MT CORONET: _**MEWTWO**_ _(A Science Experiment Gone Horribly Right, and A Being of Unfathomable Psychic Power);_ _ **DRAEK**_ _(A Dragonite, and Partner of Sir Lance of Blackthorn);_ _ **CHAZ**_ _(A Charizard, and Father Of His Race);_ _ **CHARLOTTE**_ _(A Charizard, and Happy To Be Flying Again);_ _ **CARRIE**_ _(A Marowak, and Extremely Protective);_ _ **HERNAN**_ _(A Hitmonchan, and A Good Coach);_ _ **TOBY**_ _(A Togekiss, and Extremely Friendly);_ _ **MARY**_ _(An Ampharos, and Fond Of A Good Fight);_ _ **PERUN**_ _(A Pikachu, formerly Partner Of Red Pryce);_ _ **ERIC**_ _(An Espeon, formerly Partner Of Red Pryce);_ _ **MANAMI**_ _(An Azumarill, and A Gentle Soul);_ _ **THOMAS**_ _(A Grovyle, and Not A Gentle Soul At All);_ _ **TOPAZ**_ _(A Flygon, and Very Sweet);_ _ **SKYE**_ _(An Altaria, and Very Fluffy);_ _ **NADIA**_ _(A Camerupt, who Is A Little Too Calm About Everything);_ _ **SAM**_ _(A Blastoise, who Likes Shooting Things With Her Cannons);_ _ **GARY**_ _(An Arcanine, who Thinks He's Cool);_ _ **ADAM**_ _(An Alakazam, and Fond Of Being Creepy);_ _ **EIRA**_ _(An Electabuzz, who Is Probably Sleeping);_ _ **GIRISH**_ _(A Gabite, who Is Probably Training);_ _ **RASHAD**_ _(A Lucario, an An Only Child Now);_ _ **LEWIN**_ _(A Lucario, and Proud Partner of Sar Cynthia of Celestic);_ _ **FERNE**_ _(A Floatzel, and An Inferiority Complex);_ _ **ELSA**_ _(A Glaceon, and A Climber);_ _ **TERRA**_ _(A Turtwig, and Proud Of It);_ _ **PRINCE**_ _(An Empoleon, and Actually A Prince);_ _ **TASHIGI**_ _(A Togetic, and A Worrier);_ _ **MAYA**_ _(An Azumarill, and A Sister);_ _ **EPHRAIM**_ _(A Leafeon, and A Terrible Flirt);_ _ **GARETH**_ _(A Gallade, and A Proud Knight);_ _ **BASIL**_ _(A Floatzel, who Only Just Started Fighting But Boy Howdy);_ _ **SENKA**_ _(A Spiritomb, and Terrifying Partner of Sar Cynthia of Celestic);_ _ **GLENYS**_ _(A Gastrodon, and Aggressive Partner of Sar Cynthia of Celestic);_ _ **RAISA**_ _(A Roserade, and Dramatic Partner of Sar Cynthia of Celestic);_ _ **GODIVA**_ _(A Garchomp, and Perfect Partner of Sar Cynthia of Celestic);_ _ **TITANIA**_ _(A Togekiss, and Powerful Partner of Sar Cynthia of Celestic);_ _ **PUCK**_ _(A Togetic, and Son Of Titania)_

STILL LOST WITHIN THE REVERSE: _**SAYLEE PRYCE**_ _(Ranger of Kanto and Johto, and Professional Shit-Stirrer, now A Charmander Somehow);_ _ **BLUE OAK**_ _(Leader of Kanto, Part-Time Shit-Stirrer, and Full Time Asshole, now A Snivy, Likewise Somehow);_ _ **MELODY HAWKSHAW**_ _(Formerly An Archaeologist, now Dead And A Sylveon);_ _ **BELADONIS HAWKSHAW**_ _(An Agent of Interpol, A Widower, and Currently A Luxray);_ _ **PEDRO**_ _(A Pidgeot, and Dead);_ _ **ELIZA**_ _(An Ekans, and Likewise Dead);_ _ **LUCAS HIKARI**_ _(Mesprit, God of Emotion, and A Quiet Boy);_ _ **SILVER PRYCE**_ _(Ho-oh, God of Rebirth, and Unwelcome in Giratina's Realm);_ _ **SUICUNE, ENTEI AND RAIKOU**_ _(Reborn Servants of Ho-oh);_ _ **CYNTHIA SHIRONA**_ _(A Champion of Sinnoh, and Currently An Absol);_ _ **LANCE RYUSHI**_ _(A Knight of Johto, a Professional Jackass, and Currently A Hydreigon);_ _ **POLLY**_ _(A Mightyena, now Dead, Still Fighting);_ _ **NINETALES**_ _(A Soul Of Unknown Provenance);_ _ **STEVEN STONE**_ _(A Champion of Hoenn, and An Enigma);_ _ **CYRUS**_ _(Leader of Galactic, and A Real Downer);_ _ **DIALGA**_ _(God of Time);_ _ **PALKIA**_ _(God of Space);_ _ **GIRATINA**_ _(God of The Reverse, and Super Fucking Pissed)_

 _After all that, I really hope I didn't forget anybody..._

{}

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{ _Darnua 23rd, 4:39am_ }

{ _Mt Coronet_ }

"Barry! Hang on!" Key yelled as the younger blond bolted off through the trees. "Where are you going?! The peak's _this_ way!" He didn't seem to hear her, vaulting over a fallen pillar and continuing to run. "Dammit," she muttered, taking off after him.

"Key!" Archie yelled, running after her. "Did he see something?" he asked, catching up to her easily as they rounded the fallen pillar, Shanks floating closely at his shoulder.

"Don't know!" Key panted, focusing on not slipping in the snow as they headed into the darkness of the trees. Her whole body still felt a little weird, her brain still settling back into the change from Bulbasaur-shaped to Key-shaped, and the near pitch-blackness was difficult to move in. She was unspeakably grateful for Sally and Caelin charging past her, the Infernape's flames casting flickering orange light through the trees.

Luckily, Barry hadn't gone far. Key saw him almost immediately, kneeling in the snow. "DAWN!" the boy bellowed at the top of his lungs. "DAWN! WAKE UP!"

"Oh, my," Belle gasped, flying past Key to hover over Barry's shoulder as he tried to support Dawn to sit upright. The girl's eyelids fluttered as she came around, prompting Barry to wrap her scarf around her head.

"Is she hurt?" Archie asked, pointing at the scarf.

"I'm… okay," Dawn mumbled. "I just have to be careful… Uxie's gaze is…" She shook her head, leaning on Barry as she staggered to her feet. "Never mind! Cyrus! We have to stop him! Saylee? Blue? Looker? Are you here?"

"Lee? You saw her?" Key said, looking around quickly.

"And Blue?" Archie said, peering around. "Star-"

"Don't see or smell 'im, hon," Star said, sniffing the air.

"I don't see or smell anybody else, either," Sally said. "Wait… there!" She bounded off through the trees.

"I can hear another mind out there," Sabrina commented as she and Erika approached, clinging to Pegasus' sides to keep their footing, "but only one, and not human."

"Don't hafta sound all disappointed 'bout that, Psychs," Shanks said in mock offence.

Sally came running back a moment later with a deep purple Mismagius in tow. "She's the only one around," the Luxray reported.

"Bonsoir, madame," Belle said, twirling through what was clearly her usual flourishing bow despite the distinctly different shape of her body. "And what might your name be?"

"Ghaliya," the Mismagius said, looking around. "I'm the only one here? Aside from… oh! Lord Uxie! Lord Azelf!" She bowed, with significantly less flourish, to Dawn and Barry.

"Ghaliya? You were with Professor Hawkshaw, right?" Dawn said.

"Professor Hawkshaw?" Key said in surprise. _Of course… there were tons of dead Pokemon there,_ she recalled, looking at Belle and Rapier and their now-altered forms. _Dead humans too, huh?_

"If she's not here now, or the others, then they're still in the Reverse," Dawn said, nudging Barry. "We have to go help them! They might still be fighting Cyrus! And even if they're not, we have to find the Gears!"

"Wait, Dawn, you're Uxie, right?" Key said, helping Barry to steer and steady Dawn back to the path to the peak. "You're the Being of Knowledge. Do _you_ know what exactly the Gears are and why we have to get them?"

"I _know,_ yeah, but _explaining_ it…" Dawn mumbled in frustration. "When the Reverse… formed… it's not quite a real place, y'know? It doesn't _have_ time or space. Dialga and Palkia made the Gears to… generate some, basically, but them being there… there's a clash, y'know? Like… the Reverse is _overwhelmed_ , and it's crashing, or maybe being torn apart... yes, I know none of that's right, but we don't _remotely_ have language to describe it, do we?!" she burst out hotly. "Sorry," she added sheepishly. "A lot of what Uxie's telling me is… really abstract, y'know?"

"We could make up some words," Sabrina offered. "Perhaps their presence is splanging the Reverse?"

"Sure," Dawn giggled. Barry also burst out laughing after a moment's delay.

"Anyway… so getting the Gears to Dialga and Palkia will balance things?" Key suggested.

" _Un-_ splange the Reverse?" Pegasus added.

"Did they _know_ that would happen?" Archie asked, frowning.

"Possibly, but they had to go," Dawn said, shaking her head. "Their avatars were sucked into the Reverse."

"Do you know who their avatars are?" Key asked quickly.

"No… I mean, if I looked at them, I'd know, but…" Dawn shook her head. "I just… felt their pull on Dialga and Palkia, y'know?"

"Why do Dialga and Palkia have to go after them?" Archie asked, rubbing his chin with an inscrutable expression. "Not to be cold or anything, but… couldn't they just change avatars? Do Gods normally go this far to protect their avatars?"

"No, but… okay, this one I _can_ explain," Dawn said, rubbing her forehead gingerly, fingers carefully avoiding the deep red jewel glimmering on her forehead. "So. Gods _physically_ joining with their avatars is new, but _avatars_ aren't. Gods have been bonding with chosen humans as long as there have _been_ humans. If those humans lived in a time and place when the gods weren't needed, they might go their whole lives without knowing they were chosen, but some are legendary heroes-Sir Aaron in Sinnoh, for example, or Prince Dilwyn and Prince Eduard of Unova. That bond doesn't end until the human dies-only then does the God seek out a spirit that they resonate with to forge a new bond with, and that's entirely up to the God who they pick and why, y'know? But being sucked into the Reverse _alive_ is… kind of a problem. Because everyone who got sucked in there is _still_ alive, and won't _stop_ being alive. They won't die, allowing the God to form a new bond, but they're still… lost, y'know? Sorry, we're heading for concepts we don't have language for again."

"I believe you are doing an exceptional job of explaining the unexplainable," Erika said gently.

"I'm figurin' we find the Gears, take 'em to Dialga and Palkia, kick Cyrus' ass and come home," Shanks offered.

"I see the path up ahead," Sally added, "and Zoe's on her way down to us from the summit!"

"Good," Caelin said, looking up to watch for Zoe, even though it was near-impossible to see a Crobat in the darkness, and in fact Key didn't see her before she heard her voice.

"They're all waiting at the summit, Fire Lord," Zoe reported.

"Excellent," Caelin said with a sharp grin. "We shall not be joining those of you who wish to return to the Reverse in order to save our universe," she continued, her grin fading a little. "Much as we wish too… we must think of our people. Assuming that the universe does not end, our people will need us here, to attend to the processing of our prisoners, to negotiate the return of the humans to the humans, and to reassure our people that they are safe."

"Assuming that the universe doesn't end…" Sally repeated quietly.

"From what we have seen of Sar Kanto, Lady Key and their associates, we feel safe to assume that much," Caelin said, stroking Sally's ears soothingly. "However…" she looked to Belle sadly. "We are also aware that not all who fight such battles return. As Fire Lord, our life is no longer our own to cast away, but belongs to our people. However," she added as they approached the firelight illuminating the stone plaza on Mt Coronet's peak, "that you will lack our aid does not mean that you will lack for _any_ …"

"Holy-Thomas! Manami! Topaz!" Key shrieked excitedly, running to hug her Grovyle, Flygon and first Azumarill. "Nadia and Skye, too! And you're all Lee's Pokemon from back home, right? When did you get here?!"

"Not long ago," Chaz said, blinking as he took in the others following Key up onto the plaza. "Erika? Sabrina? Didn't expect to see you here."

"Hello, Chaz," Erika said serenely. "I should have expected that you'd all come to Saylee's aid…"

"New wing looks great, Charlotte!" Sabrina said, waving at the smaller of the two Charizard. "How does it fly?"

"Great!" Charlotte said with a grin. "Ready to get right back into the fray! Mario says hi, by the way," she added to Blue's Pokemon. "He would've come, but there's been a bit of a territory conflict in Viridian that he had to weigh in on. We need to wrap this up and get Saylee and Blue home so they can deal with that crap."

Archie nudged Key. "They're Saylee and Blue's Pokemon?" he muttered. His expression was slightly glazed and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Chaz in particular. The giant Charizard was as large as Draek, Lance's Dragonite.

"Mostly just Lee's," Key said, smirking. "Bet you're thinking how lucky you are she couldn't get them to Hoenn, huh?"

"I dunno," Archie mumbled. "Might've been best for everybody if that Ampharos had taken us all out the first time we met…"

"Question," the big, scarred Hitmonchan said, holding up a fist. "Do we _have_ a plan for wrapping this up? Not that a plan is essential, but they can be a nice benefit."

"Sort of," Dawn volunteered. "Some things called the Gears of Time and Space are scattered around the Reverse. Barry and I can sort of… hear them, when we're close to them, y'know? If we split up, maybe we can find them, then find Dialga and Palkia to give them back."

"While avoiding Giratina so it doesn't, I dunno, kill us all or throw us into eternal hellfire or trap us in a mirror forever or whatever it is Giratina actually _does_ ," Key added.

"Don't forget we gotta make Cyrus wish we was never born," Star added with a feral grin.

"Oh aye, we ken well that kinna thing," Mary put in, to some laughter. "Nae probs oan that front."

"Most of us have at least _held off_ an angry god at some point, so I'm sure we can deal with that if it comes to it," Toby added.

"Do you want to help?" Sabrina asked, taking Mewtwo's hand.

" _I… would like to,_ " Mewtwo said uncertainly, " _but I do not know how much I am capable of… what my powers would do._ "

The large Marowak patted him on the arm. "It's okay," she said. "Given what effect the restless dead have been known to have on you… No, no, I'm not blaming you," she said gently when Mewtwo flinched. "Hold reality together for us while we're gone, okay?"

" _Stop Cyrus for all of us,_ " Mewtwo said with a nod, " _living and dead._ "

All gentleness was gone from the Marowak's expression and tone as she spun her bone club into a fighting grip. "Absolutely," she said. "Shall we?"

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Huh," Silver muttered as Raikou bounded towards them, bumping noses with Entei before affectionately nuzzling Silver. "Got here a lot faster than usual. All quiet?"

"Of course not," Raikou snorted. "Lord Palkia's still deteriorating. Slower, with the Gears you brought back, but…"

"Fuckin' drama queens…" Silver muttered, hefting the Gear he'd retrieved. He'd felt Raikou's rising tension all the way back to the Spacial Rift, just as he could feel Suicune's, keeping an eye on Dialga where he'd left them. There was no urgent panic yet, though, so they still had time. "C'mon."

"Can we define 'deteriorating', please?" Cynthia said as she followed Silver, Raikou and Entei. Polly was shivering every time another cry echoed through the cave, all her fur standing on end, and Ninetales seemed lost in a reverie, but Lance was oddly quiet, seemingly entranced by the garbled sounds and erratic pink light from the caves ahead of them.

"Don't know for certain, don't want to," Mesprit said with a shudder. "Let me take that," they offered Silver. "We probably shouldn't take too many near Palkia…"

"Go for it," Silver said, letting Mesprit take the Gear and flit off through the tunnels ahead of them. "Weirdly, space is pretty much keeping it together here," he explained to the rest of them. "Like the eye of the storm or something. Just… don't wander, okay? C'mere, I gotta talk to you," he said, grabbing one of Nintales' tails and dragging him back the way they'd come a little bit.

"Pretty sure grabbing a Ninetales' tail is supposed to get you cursed," Cynthia commented, looking curious but politely making no move to follow them. Just in case, Entei and Raikou settled themselves like a big, furry privacy curtain between Silver and Ninetales and the others, though Polly looked like she just wanted to lie down with her paws over her ears and Lance was still transfixed by the general direction of Palkia.

"Not sure you can curse a god," Silver said flippantly.

"Not going to try," Ninetales said, looking hopefully at Silver. "What is it? Do you have an idea of who I am? Even just a faint idea, it might trigger something…"

"Depends on whether or not your name's Red," Silver said bluntly.

The Ninetales went stock-still and- _there._

It was like a magic eye puzzle or something. When Silver looked at Cynthia, he could see an Absol, but at the same time, she was a blonde woman. The Ninetales had been a Ninetales-a little fuzzy around the edges, but a Ninetales-but now, at the same time, there was a shivering, black-haired boy, skinny and _younger_ than Silver had expected.

 _You knew he died young,_ Ho-oh reminded him.

 _Yeah, but he was Saylee's big brother, so I kept thinking of him being older, okay?_ Silver responded irritably. _But it_ is _him…_

"I'm…" Red breathed.

Silver punched him in the snout.

"You're an _asshole_!" he yelled furiously. "When you headed off into those fucking mountains, did you think, for _one fucking second_ , about what it would do to anybody who cared about you if you fucking _died_? _Did you_?!"

"I…" Red began, shivering at the mention of mountains.

"Did you think it was fucking _noble_ or something, taking off with just your Pokemon to _walk_ to fucking _Johto_?! Without even telling your family where the fuck you were going? Trying to _climb mountains_ in fucking _jeans_ and a _jacket_?!" Silver shouted. "Not like you were feeding your fucking family or anything!"

"My family… Mum, Saylee… were they…?" Red said, a little panic slipping through his daze. "Wait, you said Saylee was _here_? She's not-"

"Dead? Nah," Silver said, folding his arms, "just can't stay out of a stupid fight…"

"Sounds like her," Red said with a sigh. "I'm glad she's okay…"

"I said she's _alive,_ dunno about _okay_ ," Silver snapped. "I mean, I'm sure she was _totally_ okay when her big brother just up and _vanished,_ I'm sure she was _totally_ okay the whole time she was scouring _two fucking countries_ for you, and I'm sure her going practically fucking _catatonic_ when she found your body was because of _how totally fucking okay she was with that_!"

Red's ears had gone flat, his eyes practically bugging out of his head, a faint whining noise coming out of his throat, but all the anger and frustration and jealousy and all the confusing mix of emotions that Silver had been burying for _years_ concerning Red were pouring out, and when the valley was flooding wasn't the best time to rebuild the dam.

"She still practically worships you, y'know?" he said bitterly. "Blue too. Jo still talks about you all the fucking time. Eric and Perun can't stop going on about what a fucking _fantastic_ trainer you were, _Saylee's big brother._ Blue _raves_ about Pokemon you trained. Daisy goes on and fucking _on_ about what a _nice fucking guy_ you were. You're the family _saint._ Not to me, though."

"Silver…" Red's brow furrowed. "Wait… you said Saylee's _your_ sister?"

"Yeah," Silver said, not in a mood to explain. " _My_ sister. _You_ fucked off, did something boneheaded and fucking _died_ , and all you did was make her just like _you_ , running off like it's okay if _she_ gets killed but not anybody else. But it's not, okay? She was the first person to give a shit about me, even before we knew we were related, and it's not okay for her to die, and it's not okay for anybody to hurt her, _especially_ you, so fuck you, okay?! FUCK YOU!"

 _Perhaps you should have taken him a little further away from the others before yelling all of that,_ Ho-oh tactfully suggested in the tense silence that followed, only disrupted by Palkia's ringing cries.

" _Fuck you too,"_ Silver thought back stubbornly. He was too angry -or _something_ -to really articulate anything else.

There was a sharp spike in tension from Raikou and Entei. " _Forgive us for interrupting,_ " Entei said-in the privacy of their mental link, rather than aloud-" _but Lance suddenly shot off towards Palkia_ -"

" _I'm going after him,_ " Raikou reported.

"What the fuck?" Silver yelled, running back towards Entei. Past the shaggy brown Beast, he could see Cynthia and Polly running down the tunnel after Raikou. "What the fuck is he _doing_?!"

Without really thinking about it, he took off down the tunnel after Lance.

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 _*Hands out cookies to everybody who guessed that Ninetales was Red (which was most people :P)*_

 _Honestly, I wrote the majority of this while procrastinating writing lesson plans. Procrastination is the mother of creativity._

 _I also already have a pretty sizeable collection of Pokemon gachapon toys. There's a big "Nicopa Heartful Square" arcade near the Daiso I shop at, with a TON of claw machines and gachapon machines, and they're hard to resist whenever I'm passing by._


	64. Chapter 63

_I feel like I should pre-warn: the end of this chapter is not a formatting error or glitch. Thank you all for your patience!_

{ _The Reverse_ }

It was like he'd been locked in a little room inside his own head. It was cold in there, and empty, but he couldn't find the way out, just chasing after the faint echoes of voices in a great, empty expanse that at the same time was small and confining.

Then all around him, memory had come flooding in, opening doors and texturing landscape, and it was a feeling akin to being lost in a familiar place. And everything he _had_ known, when he was alive, was clashing with what he knew _now-_

Like how he was a Ninetales now.

Or all these people he'd never heard of who knew Saylee.

Or this stranger, Silver, who not only knew Saylee but was her _brother_ , who knew his mother and Blue and Daisy and Eric and Perun, and who was a _shape-shifting god_.

Who hated him for dying.

 _When she found your body-_

Red wasn't sure he could blame him.

He was surrounded by these strangers now, none of them human-shaped, following a god who might be his brother down distorted tunnels in the direction of something that had gone quiet even as the flickering pink light bouncing down the tunnels intensified.

"What's going on?" Cynthia called. "Silver! What's happening?"

"What happened?" Red asked, catching up with Polly.

"No clue," the Mightyena said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "But I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that it's not-nope, _that_ doesn't look good," she yelped as the corridor curled one last time before suddenly throwing them out into a vast well of light.

Red stumbled over his own paws- _why do I have_ paws _, I can remember having legs now_ -as they tripped out of the tunnel. Only Raikou, Entei and Silver were still on their feet, having probably already known that gravity was going to mess with them the second they stepped out of the tunnel. Red had to fully turn around to see past his tails, but once he did he knew he wasn't imagining it-the tunnel mouth that they'd walked out of was now in the _floor_ of the room they were in. Gravity had flipped ninety degrees, and that was the _least_ weird thing about it.

The stone under them was the red-brown of dried blood, perfectly smooth and glittering in facets like a jewel as it reflected the pink light emanating from the middle of the chamber. The slight curve to the floor revealed that the whole chamber was a massive sphere, everything centred around the _thing_ in the middle.

Red couldn't see any sign of Lance, just a blinding blaze of faintly pink light that was fluctuating wildly.

"What the _hell_ is going on?!" Cynthia demanded again, this time planting herself in front of Silver so the Grovyle had to look her directly in the eye. "If you know what's happening here-"

"He's Palkia's avatar, okay?!" Silver yelled back at her. "And that means when he got too close to Palkia, they _merged_. If we were in the normal world, in a couple minutes Lance'd be on the ground with a raging fever or something, and once he'd recovered he'd be able to control space, which- _why_. Why _him_?"

"He's like you?" Polly asked, looking from Silver to the wildly flaring light-or at least, nodding her head in the direction of the light, since it was painful to look directly at. "Why didn't you _say_ anything?"

"Because I missed it, okay?! This is _your_ fault!" he added, rounding on Red. "I was so damn busy trying to figure _you_ out-"

"Never mind that," Cynthia interrupted, planting herself in Silver's line of sight again. "You said you know what would happen if we were in the normal world. What happens _here_?"

"Hell if I know!" Silver exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Lance is here in pure soul form and Palkia's in pure essence, so-look, this shit's only been around a few years and the only one who seems to really understand a damn thing about it's the time traveller and that's only 'cause he's talked to avatars of the distant future and he's chronically cryptic, so _I don't fucking know,_ okay? And neither does Ho-oh, before you ask!"

Further argument was precluded by the gravity going _berserk._

Red could remember, now, a time when he'd been about nine and he'd fallen into a river. It was one of the mountainous rivers, so the water didn't burn to the touch, but he hadn't been particularly worried about that compared to the way the raging waters carried him along too forcefully to be fought, potentially smashing him off a rock at any moment. He'd hit a fallen tree before anything else, so he'd had something to cling to while his mother and the others caught up to pull him out, but until then all he'd been able to do was curl up into a ball and pray while the torrents threw him around wildly, no way of knowing which way was up or down.

It was almost comforting to have that familiar experience to relate to, even as everything else about the sudden shift was terrifying. He didn't have arms to put around his head anymore, but he could wind his tails around himself into a soft white wrap to protect himself as he fell every which way while up, down, left and right switched places rapidly and at random. He could hear Entei and Raikou roaring and Polly yipping frantically, but they were drowned out by the broken-bell cry that he'd heard before ringing through the chamber again.

With his head tucked in, Red couldn't see, but he could sense a sudden spike in the temperature of the room. "Calm yourself, Palkia!" a new voice screeched commandingly. "If you warp this space any further-"

"It's the host," another new voice said, deep and light at the same time, crackling with frustration. "He's panicking-!"

"Mortals do that," the other voice cawed. Red chanced a peek between his tails and saw that, while the room was still swinging wildly, bouncing most of them from wall to wall, a gigantic Fearow-like bird of rainbow colours was flapping its broad wings to stay in place so it could properly glare at the flaring pink light. " _You_ have to show him the way, Palkia. It's the only way _either_ of you will stabilize."

"Give him your calm," Mesprit said in the kind of soothing voice that made Red feel a little safer, even as he bounced off of the wall again, rolling around the slightly curved stone as gravity continued to swing randomly. He uncurled a little, frantically scrabbling for a handhold-or _claw_ hold-on the smooth surface, before being flung across the room again. He yelped as he collided with Polly in midair, inches away from hitting _whatever_ was inside the pink light- _Palkia? That's Palkia?_ Red wondered, trying to see through the light and being nearly blinded for his trouble. He wrapped his forepaws around Polly's middle, trying to hold onto the other as tightly as he could without hands.

"Thanks," she panted. "Y'know, I'm starting to think that this one might be a bit beyond me…"

"I don't have a clue either," Red said, trying to tuck his tails around both of them before hitting a wall again. He was getting pretty damn sick of constantly feeling like he was falling-it was starting to dredge up another memory, of falling somewhere so much colder than the river-

"Good! You're getting it!" Mesprit cried as the light dimmed abruptly. As he rolled along the walls, Red could dizzily make out something more solid (but still glowing) taking shape.

"Be _CALM_!" Palkia screeched, and all at once, everything was _still_. There wasn't a gradual feeling of things slowing down, or a roll to a halt as his momentum slowed-he just _stopped_ , completely still, head spinning but otherwise unmoving.

"Thank you," he heard Cynthia groan somewhere. "If I can keep from throwing up for a few minutes, will I be able to ask questions and get answers?"

"You cannot vomit," the rainbow bird said dismissively. "You have no physical body to vomit _with_. You are experiencing sense memory, that is all. And you, Palkia?"

"I have never vomited," the other god growled dismissively, "...but the host's sense memory is very strong. What an unpleasant sensation."

Red's vision finally cleared long enough to get a good look at Palkia-a gigantic light-pink creature standing on two bulky legs and a long, thin tail that almost perfectly mirrored its long, thin head. Its short arms appeared heavily armoured, as did its short but broad wings. Its small, beady eyes were glowing a distinctly unpleasant red as it looked over everyone else in the room.

"What happened to Lance?" Cynthia asked.

"He is here," Palkia said, leaning down to peer at the relatively _tiny_ Absol. She didn't back down or look away. "He is adjusting, as am I." They looked up at the giant rainbow bird, the only one in the room even _close_ to Palkia's titanic size. Mesprit, hovering between them, looked like a tiny pink speck between them. "But his presence is… helping. I no longer feel as if I am being torn apart by the Gears. You did well, Ho-oh."

"Humans say 'thank you'," Ho-oh commented. "And I did not bring him here to merge with you. He brought himself. But this is… an unexpected benefit. If Dialga's avatar is here too, then we may have the solution to our problem."

"But not the problem of what will happen if Giratina catches up with us, Master," Raikou said with a shudder.

"What happened in the desert was too close," Entei agreed.

"You have the solution to that, too, though," Palkia pointed out, nodding to Cynthia.

" _What,_ " she said, looking sharply at them, her fur bristling.

"True… my host's sister did mention…" Hoh-oh mused, looking speculatively at Cynthia. "But she never mentioned Lance. I wonder why."

"Not relevant right now," Palkia said dismissively. "We cannot allow Giratina's rage to keep us from stabilizing this world. Dialga needs… whatever this is…" They gestured to their own head. "It is… odd. As if a part of myself is outside of myself."

"Humans do not have power flows like even normal Pokemon, let alone _us_ ," Mesprit explained. "This realm is affecting your power flows, which affected your mind. Now a part of yourself is secure from that. And as you say, Dialga will need that too."

"EXCUSE ME!" Cynthia barked. "May we return, _ever so briefly,_ to your point about _me_ being Giratina's- _Giratina's_ -" She shook her head. " _Whatever_!"

"Avatar," Ho-oh explained.

"You are not a god yet, human," Palkia said, lowering their head to peer at her. "You ought to show more respect."

"Humans have respect, or they do not, and you can _demand_ nothing of the latter," Ho-oh said, shaking his head. He looked to Cynthia. "A shock, I am sure, but nevertheless. Your soul is already attuned to that of Giratina. Making contact with them will merge your two beings into one… which, among other things, would permit you to create a way out of this realm for the living that are trapped here."

" _Giratina,_ " Cynthia said, sitting down heavily.

"You said… the living that are trapped here," Red said, stepping forwards.

"Not including us," Polly sighed.

"You will leave this place when you are ready to," Ho-oh told her gently.

"I know," Red said, even though it was a heavy admission-with his memories came the knowledge that he'd died. Even worse, that he'd _failed_ -failed to get to Johto, failed to get help for his friends and family in Kanto, failed to protect his family. And now… "You said Saylee's here somewhere? Alive, but trapped?"

"She was with Uxie a short time ago," Mesprit said, sounding troubled, "but then Uxie…" They gasped suddenly, tails flaring. "Uxie! Azelf!" they cried joyfully. "I can feel them again! They're _here,_ in the Reverse! And… oh," they gasped, putting their paws to their mouth.

"What is it?" Ho-oh asked, peering down at Mesprit.

"They… brought friends," Mesprit said. "They... brought friends. They… brought friends."

"What is it?" Ho-oh asked, peering down at Mesprit.

"They… brought friends," Mesprit said.

" _What,_ " Cynthia said sharply.

Red could remember, now, a time when he'd been about nine and he'd fallen into a river. It was one of the mountainous rivers-

"Humans say 'thank you'," Ho-oh commented-

Falling, and cold-

"Give him your calm," Mesprit said in the kind of soothing voice that made Red feel a little safer, even as it felt like his memory was turning inside out again-

"Dialga will need-" Palkia said, the sound stuttering and distorting. "Dialga will need-Dialga will-Dialga-Dialga-Dialga-Dial-Di- _Di-_ "

Falling in cold on dried-blood stone in water-

" _DIALGA!"_ Palkia roared roared Palkia " _DIALGA!_ " roared " _DIALGA_!" roared Palkia " _DIALGA_!"-

{}

{}

 _Goddamn, I'm so sorry it's been so long between chapters. Work's been a constant time-consuming barrage of exhausting paperwork, which hasn't left me a lot of time for writing, and what little time i have has gotta be spent on getting whatever's actually in my brain down-which has, as far as this fic is concerned, been mostly things that will happen_ after _the Reverse (which I promise is coming to a close and will not go on for years XD). Thank you all so much for your patience and support :)_

 _Also, fun fact: I have a small A4-size whiteboard that I take with me when teaching because it's handy for helping to explain concepts, listening games, etc. If left unattended near any Japanese child between the age of 4 and 14, 97% of the time they will draw Pikachu._


	65. Chapter 64

{ _The Reverse_ }

"My, what a beautiful sunset," Looker commented as he and Melody climbed the Hill of the Ancients. Pedro was flying close overhead with Saylee, Blue and Eliza riding on his back.

"It's always sunset here," Melody said with a smile. "It's not a _real_ sun, of course, but it's lovely, isn't it?"

"A beautiful illusion," Saylee murmured. "Nothing here's really _real_."

"It's real enough to do my head in," Blue grumbled. "I _hate_ shit like this."

"I find it all quite fascinating, personally," Melody said happily. "I've been quite enjoying investigating the nature of this world." She nuzzled Looker affectionately. "I have every intention of waiting until you get here, Bel, but don't you dare rush, understand? I have plenty to occupy myself with until then."

"Far be it from me to interrupt your research," Looker joked weakly. The Luxray-shaped agent tended to blanch whenever reminded that his wife was in fact dead. Saylee couldn't really blame him; it was painful enough whenever she remembered that Pedro and Eliza, even as they chattered about the landscape that they were flying over, had both died, and getting home meant never seeing them again. _Again._

"There 'e is!" Pedro called. "Xatu!"

"We got lucky," Eliza sighed in relief. "I've heard that there's sometimes a Xatu up here who knows everything, but I've never actually _seen_ him up here before…"

Saylee peered over Pedro's neck, scanning for the solemn, multicoloured Xatu. He was silhouetted against the perpetually setting sun on the peak above them, casting him in a near-monochromatic palette of black and white with hints of gold from the sunset. He seemed to be gazing placidly into the setting sun.

"Hello, sir?" Looker called as he and Melody trotted up the ridge. Pedro landed to let Saylee, Blue and Eliza off. "Are you the Xatu who knows many things?"

"I am indeed a Xatu, and I know many things," the multicoloured bird said serenely. "What do you wish to know?"

"I'd like to know for sure if I'm dead," Blue volunteered. "It's been bugging me for a while."

"You are not," Xatu assured him. "Or you," he added, turning to look at Saylee, "or you, sir," he added, nodding at Looker. The unblinking stare was extremely creepy, even though his words were reassuring.

 _We're alive,_ Saylee thought in relief. _Which means there must be a way out of here for us…_ "How do we leave this place?" she asked.

"Giratina controls the pathways in and out of this world," Xatu declared. "If you wish to leave, you must earn their goodwill."

"Giratina ain't _got_ goodwill," Pedro grumbled. "Ain't there another way ta get livin' folk outta here?"

Xatu finally blinked, slowly. "Do you know," he asked at length, "what Giratina _is_?"

"There are so many different stories about Giratina," Melody recalled. "That they're evil incarnate, banished by Arceus to prevent them from consuming the world-born from darkness itself, or Arceus' twin sibling, or Arceus' reflection, so powerful that it gained life. Some say that Giratina and Arceus ruled the world side by side before Giratina betrayed Arceus and was banished. Then there are those who think of Giratina as related to antimatter, or string theory, a creature that can travel between dimensions… across history, there have been many cultures that regarded Giratina as evil, while many others think of them as a god of chaos, naturally opposed to our ordered world but not inherently evil. There are those who say Giratina is not a god, but something from another reality that we cannot fully comprehend. And of course, there are plenty willing to argue that just because some of our gods of legend verifiably exist doesn't mean that all of them do, and while Giratina has appeared in many cultures that doesn't make it real."

"Giratina is most certainly real," Xatu said softly, "and chaos, perhaps… chaos is natural, order is not. Neither is inherently good or evil, simply two states of being. Truly, what Giratina is is death-not dying, which is Lugia's realm, but the state of death. Death might be frightening, and, for the unlucky, painful, but that does not make it evil. That people fear something does not make it evil. Death is natural, necessary, and, to some, welcome."

"Still, not surprised that people would think of a god of death who looks that damn scary as evil," Blue commented.

"To judge by appearances and fear is foolish and simplistic," Xatu said levelly, "and has, over the aeons, been a source of much suffering for Giratina."

"We need to understand Giratina if we're going to get their help to get out of here," Saylee said. "Xatu… how much can you tell us about Giratina?"

"To understand Giratina, you must understand the gods themselves," Xatu explained. "Arceus created a pantheon to help oversee all things: Dialga, for time; Palkia, space; Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, for matter in all its states, solid, liquid and gas; and life itself was the domain of Mew, who loved life so dearly that they advocated the creation of more. Not god-life, eternally in service of Giratina, but life that lived for the sake of living and to beget further life. So Arceus created Pokemon… and, of course, as soon as there was life, there was birth, there was Ho-oh, and there was death, and there was Lugia. And yet, after death, Arceus was astonished to see that something was left behind, something that had not been created by Arceus but had created itself. And there was Giratina, who saw that this that existed after life was as precious and beautiful as it was fragile. Giratina created this place for souls without bodies to be safe, and it was Giratina's choice to remain here to protect the dead. Arceus was no part in any of it, beyond giving their friend their blessing."

"Their friend… Arceus and Giratina are _friends,_ " Melody breathed, "but the living demonized Giratina because they feared death…"

"So they're not enemies?" Saylee asked. "Giratina doesn't hate the living?"

"...Over aeons… Giratina and Arceus' relationship has become… complicated," Xatu said delicately. "Arceus bears Giratina no ill will, but Giratina, despite being a creature of compassion, has come to despise Arceus deeply, and has not been fond of humans ever since your kind first breathed in the living world."

"Well, that's great," Blue grumbled. "So this brings us back to where we started: Giratina hates Arceus and doesn't like humans. This helps us how, exactly?"

"Maybe if _we_ ask, Giratina will send you back?" Eliza suggested. "We're Pokemon, _and_ we're dead."

"A sweethearted offer," Xatu said gently, "but I fear it will not be enough. Giratina may hear the counsel of-well, not Palkia, not now that Palkia has merged with their human avatar. But perhaps, if Dialga can be stabilized…"

"Waitwaitwait," Saylee protested. "Palkia's _merged_ with their avatar? Palkia's avatar was _here_?"

"Indeed," Xatu said placidly. "Palkia chose a soul like itself-wilful, determined, and with a love for the lives and safety of Pokemon that far outstrips their care for humans. Were you not aware of this avatar?"

"No… wait, _Lance_ was an avatar?!" Saylee sputtered. "I've known him for _years_ and I've never _once_ seen the… the…" She waved her paws in the air. "Aura… _thing_ that they have!"

"Hmmm… in your home, do you take note of the colour of the walls each and every day?" Xatu asked.

"What the actual fuck does that mean?" Blue asked bluntly.

"It means that all humans are _capable_ of seeing such auras, but lack the mental processes to understand that which they are seeing," Xatu explained. "You knew Lance long before you crossed paths with gods. You saw his aura every time that you saw him, and did not take note of it even after you came to understand what you were seeing, any more than you would take special note of the colour of his eyes, or hair, or skin, as you know him already. You notice such things only when meeting new people, do you not?"

"Damn, ya really _do_ know everythin'," Pedro said suspiciously. "How'd ya know that Saylee met Lance _before_ meetin' any gods?"

"Should you not be more concerned about the sun?" Xatu asked, looking upwards. The sun was blazing directly overhead.

"The sun rose?" Melody said curiously. "That is odd. I thought that the sunset, or sunrise, that one viewed from here was… well, backdrop, not a true star."

"It _is_ a backdrop," Xatu sad, "one that is being affected by distortions spreading across this realm."

"Time distortions," Looker realized. "We have become distracted! We came to learn of the location of the Time Gears which were stolen from Dialga by Cyrus! Xatu, could you tell us of their location?"

"Under the guise of the respected Rescuer Dusknoir, Cyrus has hidden many in the caves beneath the Rescuers' Guild," Xatu explained. "The Time Distortions spread like ripples, but have not reached that part of the realm yet. You still have-"

"Thank you for your help but please don't finish that sentence," Saylee said, scrambling onto Pedro's back. "We've gotta go get those Gears!"

"Good luck," Xatu said as Blue climbed onto Pedro's back with Saylee and Eliza wrapped herself around one of the Pidgeot's feet. Pedro took off back down the mountain, Looker and Melody running along beneath them.

"Shouldn't take long ta get back," Pedro said. "If ya think about it right, ya can kinda-yep, there we go," he said as the Pokemon-shaped structures of the village abruptly appeared on the horizon.

"We may have a problem," Melody commented as they flew towards the pink-and-white Wigglytuff-shaped Guildhouse.

"Goodness, that's a lot of the Guild waiting outside," Eliza said in surprise.

Saylee peered over Pedro's shoulder. Ranged in front of the Guildhouse were dozens of Pokemon, maybe a hundred, including some quite powerful-looking ones like a Charizard almost as hulking as Chaz and a large Alakazam.

Behind them, she realized with a sinking heart, was Cyrus, still shaped like a Dusknoir and floating next to Guildmaster Wigglytuff.

"CYRUS!" Looker snarled, skidding to a halt as a Golem lobbed a boulder at him. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Team Badass, Team Unown, we have received reports that you were working with the Grovyle thief!" Wigglytuff called. "The great Dusknoir came to warn us that you might come attack the Guild! What did you do to Sudowoodo?"

" _What?!_ " Blue yelled incredulously. "Sudowoodo wasn't really a Sudowoodo, she's a friend of ours who isn't here just now, and that Dusknoir isn't a Dusknoir, he's a _lying piece of shit_! _He's_ the one who stole the Gears!"

"I warned you they would try this," Dusknoir said solemnly. "They want to tear the Guild apart with infighting so that nobody can stop them!"

"That isn't it at all!" Melody cried. "Guildmaster, if you search the catacombs under the Guildhouse, you'll see-!"

"Give yourselves up, traitors!" the Skuntank leading Team Skull snarled, though he was smirking unpleasantly as he did so.

"You slimy piece of-alright, NOW ya pissed me off!" Pedro screeched as the trigger-happy Golem threw another boulder that the Pidgeot barely dodged.

"Pedro, we can't fight this many!" Eliza cried as the assembled Rescuers started to attack.

"We can't just let them chase us away!" Saylee yelled in frustration. "If we don't get those Time Gears before the time distortions get here-!"

"Watch out!" Blue yelled as Pedro dodged a bolt of lightning and a blast of fire, only to end up right in the path of yet another boulder.

The rock never made contact. Something flew down and smashed it out of the way.

" _That_ ," Chaz snarled furiously, light flashing along his steel wings, "is _my best friend_ you're attacking."

"Goddamn! _Chaz?!_ " Pedro cried, practically headbutting the huge Charizard with how fast he flew up to nuzzle his head against his old friends. "Pal, tell me you ain't dead-"

"I'm not dead," Chaz said, sounding a little choked as he nuzzled Pedro back, "I'm the cavalry."

Saylee turned around. Behind them was a veritable army of Pokemon, Azelf and Uxie floating at their head.

"Wanna take one more shot at talking this out, Guildmaster?" Azelf called. The voice was Barry's, quick and more than a little bit cocky, as was the grin on his face.

"My words, at this point, consist of 'submit, _or else_ '," Star snarled.

Wigglytuff looked down at their arrayed Rescuers, some looking more nervous now that they were facing more than six Pokemon, and up at the force arrayed around Mesprit and Uxie. "Mesprit and Uxie," they breathed. "What do you wish to talk about?"

Cyrus _screamed_ in rage, turned, and struck in a blast of black.

{}

{}

 _Well, it's been forever and a day, hasn't it? I've struggled with this chapter for a lot of reasons, but chief among them is that a few weeks ago I got a piece of news that knocked me on my ass-my dad has cancer. Luckily, it looks like it's extremely early stage bowel cancer, and he's already booked for surgery next month to remove about two feet of intestine, which they're hoping will be sufficient to get it out of his system. He's had a bunch of examinations and all his other organs are clear just now. He seems optimistic about it and it sounds like he's got a solid plan and is in good hands-I mean, I've always been willing to fistfight Theresa May in a Tesco parking lot to protect the NHS, but even more so now. It's just… "I have cancer" is just not something you want to hear from somebody you love, ever, and for a few days before we had a more definitive diagnosis and a plan I was in a pretty bad place over it mentally and it's still dragging on me a bit._

 _But. He's got a plan, I've had an easier work week and a three-day weekend to get on top of some stuff, and for better or worse, I have this chapter done._

 _CHARACTERS NOW IN THE REVERSE:_

 _SILVER the HO-OH_

 _LANCE the PALKIA_

 _RED the NINETALES_

 _CYNTHIA the ABSOL_

 _LUCAS the MESPRIT_

 _POLLY the MIGHTYENA_

 _ENTEI the ENTEI_

 _SUICUNE the SUICUNE_

 _RAIKOU the RAIKOU_

 _SAYLEE the CHARMANDER_

 _BLUE the SNIVY_

 _PEDRO the PIGEOT_

 _ELIZA the EKANS_

 _LOOKER the LUXRAY_

 _MELODY the SYLVEON_

 _BARRY the AZELF_

 _DAWN the UXIE_

 _CHAZ the CHARIZARD_

 _CHARLOTTE the CHARIZARD_

 _KEY the BULBASAUR_

 _ARCHIE the OSHAWOTT_

 _SALLY the LUXRAY_

 _STAR the LUXRAY_

 _ZOE the CROBAT_

 _BELLE the ROSELIA_

 _RAPIER the BUDEW_

 _SHANKS the SHARPEDO_

 _PEGASUS the RAPIDASH_

 _WARIN the BEAUTIFLY_

 _DRAEK the DRAGONITE_

 _CARRIE the MAROWAK_

 _HERNAN the HITMONCHAN_

 _TOBIAS the TOGEKISS_

 _MARY the AMPHAROS_

 _PERUN the PIKACHU_

 _ERIC the ESPEON_

 _MANAMI the AZUMARILL_

 _THOMAS the GROVYLE_

 _TOPAZ the FLYGON_

 _SKYE the ALTARIA_

 _NADIA the CAMERUPT_

 _SAM the BLASTOISE_

 _GARY the ARCANINE_

 _ADAM the ALAKAZAM_

 _EIRA the ELECTABUZZ_

 _GIRSH the GABITE_

 _RASHAD the LUCARIO_

 _LEWIN the LUCARIO_

 _FERNE the FLOATZEL_

 _ELSA the GLACEON_

 _TASHIGI the TOGETIC_

 _PUCK the TOGETIC_

 _TITANIA the TOGEKISS_

 _MAYA the AZUMARILL_

 _EPHRAIM the LEAFEON_

 _GARETH the GALLADE_

 _BASIL the FLOATZEL_

 _GLENYS the GASTRODON_

 _RAISA the ROSERADE_

 _GODIVA the GARCHOMP_

 _why do i do this to myself_


	66. Chapter 65

_I guess it's that time of the… every other month? Already? Really? Holy shit. So, life update: job still exhausts me; Japan is still a reasonably groovy place to live even slap-bang between Kim Jong-Fud's occasional attacks on the sea and Immortan Trump's World War Apocalypse speeches; Dad's surgery went fantastic and the check-up's shown no sign of any new cancer growths so they might have gotten it all; and I'm 25 now. What the fuck. I remember writing about my 19th in an A/N for_ After Armageddon _and I'm still here? And I can't thank those of you who are still here enough. After years of regular weekly updates it's gotta be frustrating to not know when a new chapter's happening, but I promise I am not going to abandon this series no matter what. I love it too much and have too many plans._

 _Anyway, because I'm sure we all need a refresher, this chapter is starring, in order of appearance:_

 _Charlotte as a Charizard_

 _Dawn as Uxie, Bringer of Knowledge_

 _Barry as Azelf, Bringer of Willpower_

 _Chaz as a Charizard_

 _Cyrus as a Dusknoir_

 _Pedro as a Pidgeot_

 _Tobias and Titania as Togekiss_

 _Mary as an Ampharos_

 _Key as a Bulbasaur_

 _Archie as an Oshawott_

 _Saylee as a Charmander_

 _Blue as a Snivy_

 _Eliza as an Ekans_

 _Star and Sally as Luxrays_

 _Zoe as a Crobat_

 _Ferne and Basil as Floatzels_

 _Elsa as a Glaceon_

 _Ephraim as a Leafeon_

 _Maya and Manami as Azumarill_

 _Pegasus as a Rapidash_

 _Warin as a Beautifly_

 _Gary as an Arcanine_

 _Adam as an Alakazam_

 _Sam as a Blastoise_

 _Belle as a Roselia_

 _Rapier as a Budew_

 _Melody as a Sylveon_

 _Lewin and Rashad as Lucario_

 _Draek as a Dragonite_

 _Puck and Tashigi as Togetic_

 _Looker as a Luxray_

 _Nadia as a Camerupt_

 _Skye as an Altaria_

 _Topaz as a Flygon_

 _Eric as an Espeon_

 _Perun as a Pikachu_

 _Lucas as Mesprit, Bringer of Emotion_

 _Lance as Palkia_

 _Silver as Ho-oh_

 _Cynthia as an Absol_

 _Entei as Entei_

 _Raikou as Raikou_

 _Polly as a Mightyena_

 _Red as a Ninetales_

 _Dialga as Primal Dialga_

{ _The Reverse_ }

"Look out!" Charlotte cried, flying to cover Uxie and Azelf. She vanished when the black light struck her-just blipped out of sight, as if she'd never been there.

"CHARLOTTE!" Chaz bellowed furiously, fire starting to spill out of his mouth as he turned on Cyrus. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!" Without waiting for an answer, he flew towards the Dusknoir-shaped terrorist, blasting fire at him. Cyrus narrowly dodged the Fire Blast, while Chaz himself was knocked down by a Sludge Bomb that hit him from almost directly below.

"Skuntank, ya low-down, dirty, piece a'-!" Pedro snarled, flying down to crouch protectively over Chaz, wings raised and crest flaring intimidatingly, while his friend disentangled himself from the clinging sludge. "Why'd ya attack 'im?"

"He was attacking the great Rescuer Dusknoir! As fellow Rescuers, we can't simply stand by and _watch_ that!" Skuntank sneered.

"But… Dusknoir attacked Azelf and Uxie…" a Yanma said uncertainly, looking from the Dusknoir to the little gods.

"I did no such thing," Cyrus snapped. "I attacked these filthy liars who have dared to deceive the gods themselves! Don't forget, they're working with the Grovyle thief! They don't even _belong_ here! They're invaders!"

"That's rich, coming from _you_ ," Chaz snarled, flapping sludge off of his wings.

"Stay calm, Chaz," Toby said, flying over to them with Mary perched on his back, along with a Bulbasaur and a little blue thing with a big, bulbous white head. "Charlotte is okay."

"Yeah, she just got sent back to the living world," the Bulbasaur piped up. "That's what happened to us when we got zapped like that!"

"What the-Key?!" Saylee yelped in surprise when she recognized her friend's voice coming out of the Bulbasaur's mouth. "You're a _Bulbasaur_?!"

" _Lee_?!" Key cried excitedly. " _Duh_ , of course you're right at the front when there's trouble…"

"Wait… _Saylee_?" Chaz said in surprise, peering closely at her. "Oh my cinders… you're _adorable_!" Blue burst out laughing. "No, really, look at you!" Chaz cooed as he scooped her up gently in a claw.

"Hey, once upon a time I could carry you around in one arm like this too," Saylee pointed out. Chaz felt different when she was in the form of a Charmander, though. The heat radiating off of him didn't feel _hot_. It was more like… something comfortable, wrapping around her and making her feel strong and safe. _No wonder all the baby Charmander loved him right away,_ she thought, flicking her tail.

"I think we started a fight," Eliza commented, pointing her tail at the crowd of Rescuers, who were breaking into heated arguments.

"Obviously they lied! They're all thieves, like Grovyle!" a Gengar yelled.

"But none of us _met_ the mighty Dusknoir," an Octillery pointed out. "How do we know it's really _him_?"

"What if they're _both_ liars? _All_ of them have been tricking us!" a hulking Tyranitar snarled.

"We must capture the thieves and find out what they did with the stolen Gears!" Cyrus called.

"Enough of the _lies_ from you!" Star snarled furiously, charging towards the Dusknoir. Sally barely knocked her sister out of the way of a ripple of Magnitude sent by a Dugtrio, who was hit by a Water Blast from the Octillery. The Rescuers erupted into combat, some attacking each other, some going after Star and Sally.

"Sal!" Zoe cried, flying into the fray.

"We have to help them!" Ferne cried, running into the rapidly expanding chaos with Gareth, Maya, Elsa and Ephraim hot on her heels.

"Ferne, wait!" Basil yelled, exchanging a nervous look with Pegasus and Warin before diving in, followed by the rest of Blue and Archie's teams.

"Gary! Adam! Try and get those morons to stick together instead of running off like that!" Blue yelled, directing his Arcanine and Alakazam into the battle. "Sam, think you can do anything about this gunk on Chaz?"

"Absolutely _not_ ," Chaz said quickly when Sam grinned.

"Allow me to assist, _ma chérie,_ " a familiar voice said as a Roselia scurried up to Saylee, followed by a tiny Budew. The pair of grass-types used their thorn whips to help cut away the sludge holding Chaz to the ground.

" _Belle_?!" Saylee gasped, lunging forwards and hugging her old Roselia. Belle was still small compared to her old trainer, even though Saylee was a Charmander now, but they were only a foot apart in height and Saylee's now-stubby arms only barely reached around Belle's neck. "It's good to see you again," she said softly.

"As good as it is to know that you and _ma belle reine_ are still alive and well," Belle chuckled gently, "but now, I am afraid, is not the time to be sentimental. Oh, but may I introduce you to _mon frère_ , Rapier?"

" _Bonjour_ ," Rapier said with a flourishing little bow that looked exactly like the kind that Saylee remembered seeing Belle do as a Budew herself.

"Who used to be Archie's Budew," Key added. "Small world or what, huh?"

"Getting smaller by the second," Uxie said unhappily. "We don't have time to fight all of the Rescuers-we need to find the Gears that Cyrus stole!"

"Xatu said that they they were hidden somewhere under the Guildhouse, didn't he?" Melody pointed out. "Use the chaos to your advantage. Sneak in and find them!"

"Somewhere out here's a hole in the ground that leads down to the caves," Archie put in. "If we can clear a path to it…"

"Point me in a direction and I'll clear you a path," Sam said, clicking cannons out of her shell.

"We can assist in keeping the chaos going until you've retrieved the Gears," a Lucario added. She was taller and stronger-looking than Rashad, who stood at her side, scanning the group of Pokemon until his ears pricked up when he looked at Blue. "Before we do, might I ask-I know Cynthia is somewhere in this world. Have you seen her?"

"No," Saylee said, shaking her head. "Sorry. Haven't seen Lance, either," she added, looking over the two Lucario to the imposing bulk of Draek.

"I'm sure he'll turn up if we get noisy enough," Draek said with a shrug. "Hey-um, excuse me, Sacred Uxie?" he asked, tone growing somewhat more polite as he looked down at the tiny god. "I mean, I know where we are… we can't _kill_ anybody here, right?"

"No," Uxie said, shaking ther head, "but you can put people to… a very great deal of pain that can cause them to black out."

"Works for me," Draek said, flapping his wings and flying into combat.

"The chaos looks handled," Chaz grumbled, getting up and shaking the last of the junk off of his wings.

"We'll try and keep things from getting too out of hand," Toby said, starting to glow as he flew overhead. Titania, Puck and Tashigi flew with him, all glowing too as they all built their power.

"Only small Pokemon are gonna fit down this tunnel," Key warned. "Lee-I think it'd better be you, me, Archie, Blue, Belle, Rapier, Azelf and Uxie."

"Sounds like a plan," Blue agreed.

"Whaddya say, Pal, should we take a little bit of advantage of the chaos ourselves?" Pedro said, nodding at the roof of the guildhouse where Wigglytuff and Cyrus seemed to be arguing.

"Let's do it," Chaz said, bopping Saylee on the head with the end of his tail, making her squawk. "Sorry, you just look so goddamn cute and boppable like that," Chaz chuckled.

"Please allow me to assist you with apprehending Cyrus," Looker put in. "I am, after all, still an officer of the law!"

"Ain't sure the law exists here, buddy," Pedro said, sounding amused.

"It does now," Looker said firmly, running up onto Chaz's back.

"Oh, Bel," Melody laughed affectionately, climbing onto Pedro's back. "Shall we, gentlemen?"

"Good luck!" Eliza called, clinging to Pedro's leg as the pair started to fly into the sky, going so high that they couldn't be seen from the ground.

"So, we need a path going- _that_ way," Archie said, pulling the scallop shell off his chest and pointing with it.

"Got it," Sam said, blasting her way through the crowd. The rest of Cynthia's team followed, wading into the fray and carving a path for the team of smaller figures to go through-the chaos was getting so great that nobody seemed to notice that Uxie and Azelf were there. Nadia, Skye, Thomas, Manami, Topaz, Eric and Perun took the rearguard, blocking any stray attacks that flew too close to the group until they came to a hole in the ground covered by a wooden lattice.

"Cut?" Rapier suggested.

"But of course," Belle agreed, the pair of them slashing through the lattice with their whips.

Saylee dangled her tail in and was relieved to see that the drop was only about six feet. "Let's go," she said, hopping down. She stumbled on landing, her legs not long enough to roll and absorb the impact quite the way she'd intended, but she was on her feet and swinging her tail around to light up the passage as Blue, Key and Belle lowered themselves down on vines and Rapier lowered Archie before following himself.

Uxie and Azelf immediately flew off down the tunnel. "This way!" Azelf called. "We can feel them!"

"I'll take your word for it!" Blue yelled as they ran off after the tiny gods. The tunnels were extensive, twisting and turning not just left and right but up and down too, a three-dimensional maze that, given where they were, possibly didn't even occupy the usual set of dimensions. It wasn't long before the walls began to shake around them.

"Intruders! Halt!" three voices cried simultaneously. Archie yelped and Saylee turned just in time to see him stumble and fall as rocks pelted them from behind.

" _En garde_!" Belle cried as she leapt over Archie, a hail of razor-sharp petals flying from her roses. "Keep going, Sar!" she yelled over her shoulder. "I shall handle these interlopers!"

" _We_ shall handle these interlopers," Rapier said, stopping by Archie. "Go on, Archie, we have this."

"Thanks, Rapier," Archie said, putting a gentle paw on his late Budew's bud before tearing himself away to catch up to the rest of the group.

"We aren't far now," Uxie said, leading them down steadily widening tunnels until they pitched out into a cavernous underground hall.

Five odd, shimmering, turning shapes were lying-or floating, it was hard to tell-around the room. Three of them were blue, two pink, all of them difficult to focus on or look directly at. The eye slipped off of them, making the exact shapes impossible to tell. It was enough to tell, though, that they looked like the thing that had been stolen at the Lake.

"We have to find Dialga and get these to them," Azelf said, flying over to the three blue Gears.

"Sure, that sounds easy enough," Blue said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh my god, can _anybody_ here think positive?" Key exclaimed. "Uxie, do you know how we find Dialga?"

"Our best bet is to find Palkia and they can find Dialga," Uxie said, eying up the pink Gears. "I think we'd better leave these. Mesprit said that Palkia stabilized after joining with their avatar. We don't need to risk destabilizing them further."

"You can find Palkia as long as they're with Mesprit, right?" Saylee asked.

"Better than that-we can go to them," Azelf said, holding out a paw to Uxie. "All of you, grab those Gears and come closer."

Saylee reached out tentatively for one of the blue Gears. She felt _something_ in her paws, but it was like a ghost sensation that slipped through her fingers as soon as she tried to tighten her grip. She relaxed and tried to turn and the large, glowing shape of the Gear moved with her.

"Okay, so the pocket dimension is _still_ weirder, but this is getting _fucking_ close," Blue muttered as he reached out for another blue Gear with his vines.

"One of these days you are going to tell me about that pocket dimension you keep talking about," Archie said, picking up the third blue Gear.

"No," Blue said flatly, "no I am not. Can we go now?"

"Lady Key, please create a perimeter with your vines so that we are all physically touching," Azelf said, reaching out to the Bulbasaur-shaped Champion. Key snaked out two long vines that wrapped around Saylee, Archie and Blue before reaching Azelf and Uxie, who wrapped their paws around the vines as the jewels in their foreheads glowed. They shifted shape into a pair of light golden Abra and then glowed pink with psychic power.

There was a brief flash as they teleported and then they were standing in a room that looked like the interior of a huge sphere of stone. As they appeared, there was a round of gasps from the rest of the Pokemon in the room-not gasps of shock, but gasps as if they'd been drowning and just come up for air.

"You're here! And you have the Time Gears! Thank you!" Mesprit cried, flying up to Azelf and Uxie, who shifted back to their god forms. The three little gods gently leaned their foreheads against each other, crooning happily. "We were all stuck in our own time loops, even Palkia. Dialga's power is raging far out of control!"

"We have the Gears-Palkia!" Azelf cried. "You have to help us find Dialga! We can use the Gears to calm them!"

Palkia, looming over them, slowly nodded their huge pink head. "Dialga… dammit, Dialga," they groaned. "We have to help them before they lose themselves entirely-"

"Silver!" Saylee cried, looking up at Ho-oh. "Ho-oh, are you and Silver okay?"

"We just had an… odd journey through each others' pasts, I think," Ho-oh said, looking down at her and then to the other Pokemon in the room-Entei, Raikou, a Ninetales, an Absol and a Mightyena.

"Wait, is that Saylee?!" the Mightyena yapped excitedly, charging towards them and skidding to a halt to sniff Saylee closely. "That _is_ you!"

"Polly?!" Saylee said, leaning up to hug her Mightyena. This was the fourth time she'd run into a Pokemon that she'd lost and it still made her head spin, like she'd walked into a dream where she got one last chance to talk to them. "Polly, I'm so sorry about what happened to you-"

"Oh, don't, it wasn't your fault," Polly assured her, licking her head. "How's Python? Is he okay?"

"Taking it very hard," Key said, running up with a grin. "Is there anything you want us to tell him when we get back?"

"Just… tell him that moping isn't him and it won't make him feel any better," Polly said, flattening her ears. "He's a _boss_. He needs to be out there kicking ass, not curled up crying into his tail."

"We'll tell him," Saylee promised. She glanced over Polly's shoulder to see the Ninetales and Absol running up to them.

Above them, Palkia shifted into the shape of a huge Claydol with bright yellow eyes. "Stay close and hang onto those Gears," the space god ordered in a voice halfway between their own and Lance's. "We have to go to Dialga _now_."

Saylee clung to her Gear as Key's vines snaked around them all again, bringing them all close together underneath the colossal Claydol that Palkia had turned into. The split second everybody was in contact with a vine, there was another flash and the stone hall vanished, replaced by a dizzying, whirling expanse of stars above and a broad stone plateau under their feet.

Ahead of them was Dialga.

Every line of its body was glowing with frantically pulsing red energy. Its scream was agonizing, like nails raking across eardrums. The Gear that Saylee was holding was starting to spin faster, making a low whining noise.

"Get those Gears to Dialga!" Palkia ordered, resuming their original form. "Go _now_ , before they tear apart time in the whole Reverse!"

"Polly, you can move faster than I can," Saylee said, holding up the Gear. "Take it and go!"

"She's got a point-here!" Archie said, holding out Gear to the Absol. "Get that to Dialga!"

"You got this, big guy," Blue said, throwing his Gear to Raikou. The three streaked off. As soon as they did…

... Saylee was home, and her mother was leaning over the table, crying.

"Please be careful, Saylee," she sobbed. "Please. I don't want to lose you too. I can't. It won't be worth struggling through all this without…"

...Then she was flying, clinging to Skye's back as raging wind and rain buffeted into them while below, gods battled…

"...can't feed more than six," Red explained, passing a berry down to his Pikachu. "But they're lots of different types, so you know, I think we can handle anything…"

"...And that makes it alright?!" Key yelled. "If you're gonna say something as ridiculous as that, then at least sound like you mean it!" With that, she spun on her heel and ran off…

"...It's a photograph," Blue said reluctantly, handing it over. "It's… it's your mum. It's definitely Jo. We both think the baby's probably Red. But the man with her, he's…" Saylee didn't hear if he finished that sentence or not because of how loudly the blood roared in her ears when she looked down at the picture and saw Giovanni's face…

...so _hungry_ that she didn't want to get up, but her eyes flew open in shock when something sweet pressed to her lips. Red was pushing a large Rawst berry on her, frantically babbling about how they had food, it was okay, please wake up and eat…

"... _If anybody is to blame,_ " Mewtwo said protectively, " _it is me…_ "

...a fragment of eggshell the size of a continent drifted away and a tremendous eye opened…

...ice, ice everywhere, so cold she couldn't _think_ …

Abruptly, she was slammed into herself at the sound of another scream from Dialga. The gigantic blue time god was thrashing frantically in the air, but they were no longer glowing red. Absol, Polly and Raikou were all flat to the ground as Dialga screamed and flailed.

"Look out!" a voice yelled, as something tackled Saylee to the ground as Dialga's tail whipped overhead, so low it would've knocked even her down. Saylee looked over to see that she was tucked under one of the Ninetales' forepaws as they also lay flat to stay out of the line of tail.

"Thanks," she said, looking up at Dialga. "They look like they're still in pain… did we miss a Gear? Did we-?"

"Saylee? It _is_ you, isn't it?"

Saylee forgot everything she'd been thinking about, everything she'd been wondering, everything she'd been worried about. Everything in her stopped in shock at the sound of the Ninetales' voice.

She slowly looked back at the much bigger fire-type. Of course it looked nothing like a human, but there was something about the concerned way he was looking at her that was so…

"Red?" she choked out.

There was another roar, but this one wasn't Dialga's. Saylee clung to Red as the whole plateau shook under them, an earthquake caused by the landing of one _extremely_ pissed-off Giratina.

The Lord of the Reverse spread its wings and wailed a broken chord of a furious scream.

{}

{}

 _You're probably relieved to hear that the next chapter should be the final Reverse chapter before we return to reality. It'll probably be a long one, but I'm determined that it'll be the last :P_

 _Also major brownie points and love to Isis_the_Sphinx for giving this a quick beta-read!_


	67. Chapter 66

{ _The Reverse_ }

One moment, he was holding his daughter in his arms for the first time.

Then he no longer had arms, just paws, and Jenny wasn't there. After a moment, his memory of where and when he was and what was happening came back to him, and he was immensely relieved that Jenny was far away.

There was an unhappy groan and Looker realized that he had collapsed on one of Chaz's wings. "I am sorry," he said, stepping onto the roof of the Guildhouse. Chaz just groaned again, flapping his wings feebly, his claws still pressed over his eyes.

"What th' hell was that?" Pedro gasped, all of his feathers standing on end as he blinked rapidly, shivering. "Wha…?"

"Bel… are you okay?" Melody asked, staggering to her fe-paws.

"I am okay," he said, nudging his head against hers. "Are you…?"

"Fine… fine," she said, looking over at the Wigglytuff, who was shaking their head, making their long ears flap, and Cyrus…

Who had shrunk down to a Duskull that was huddled in on itself on the roof in front of them.

"Cyrus Akagi," Looker said, looming over the shrunken Galactic Leader with as much Intimidation as his Luxray form could manage. "Will you come quietly?"

"...It's all broken," Cyrus whispered, his voice weak. "Why can't… any of you see that? It's… _all_ of it's… it's beyond saving. I can't fix it. _You_ can't fix it."

"No," Looker agreed. "The world cannot be fixed by one person in one lifetime. But that does not make our work towards a better world meaningless, nor that we should not continue to try. It is not our duty to complete the work, but nor are we free to abandon it."

Cyrus shook his head. "How can you live… knowing you will die in a broken world?"

"Well, on evidence…" Melody said, looking around, "the better world we leave behind isn't just for our children, but for our later selves. We all get a chance to try again. Even you."

"He really _isn't_ the great Dusknoir, huh?" the Guildmaster said, peering at Cyrus. "I mean, I've _met_ the great Dusknoir. He's a great Rescuer, even if he can be a bit stuck up, but he was never a human… _Time for little bairns 'n' babies to go to sleep_ ~" they sang melodiously, causing Cyrus to slump unconsciously on the roof.

Looker felt his eyes growing heavy with the power of the lullaby, but he was promptly woken up by a powerful Wake-Up Slap. "Thank you," he said, shaking his head and watching Melody do the same as the Guildmaster stepped back and picked up Cyrus.

"He's not dead," Wigglytuff said, holding up the little Duskull. "Take him back to the Living World to see justice there. _Then_ he can come get his second chance."

Looker nodded, holding up a confused paw for a moment before opening his mouth and picking up the musty, ragged Duskull in his mouth.

"What about everybody else?" Eliza asked timidly, slithering over to the edge of the roof and looking down at the confused Pokemon below just in time to see a Marowak club a Skuntank over the head with her bone club.

"That is _enough_ ," a Hitmonchan standing next to her shouted. "We're getting _nowhere_ with this!"

"Very true!" Wigglytuff called, bouncing over to the edge of the roof. "Listen, everybody! This is _not_ the great Dusknoir! He's a fake!" They gestured to the limp form that Looker was carrying in his mouth.

"Told yous!" an Ampharos hooted proudly.

"But where did Uxie and Azelf go?" an Alakazam asked. "They are no longer here…"

"I'd say that wherever they are, they're something to do with Dialga's power settling down," Melody said, throwing an uncomfortable look at Looker.

He wanted to reassure her that Dialga was probably in most capable hands, even if they were no longer hands, but before he could figure out how to speak without letting go of Cyrus, he was somewhere else, and she was gone.

{ _The Reverse_ }

Giratina's rage was thick in the air, a physical force that pressed all of them to the ground, even Dialga and Palkia. Dialga was still thrashing and groaning, but whatever chaos it was suffering was now raging entirely internally rather than all around the Reverse.

"Bad enough that you returned when I _explicitly_ forbade you to," Giratina snarled. Their voice felt like being dragged through gravel and broken glass. "Your _presence_ nearly destroyed this whole world and everything within it! But you brought living souls with you to boot, living souls that further destabilized this realm! You could have caused the obliteration of _billions_ of spirits!"

"We didn't _bring_ them, we _pursued_ them," Palkia argued. " _You_ were the one who dragged them in here, and our avatars to boot!"

"Avatars… your precious _humans_ , Giratina said scornfully. "Yours is keeping you stable, Palkia, it's true. He's keeping you from suffering while cut away from true space, the way that Dialga is suffering while cut off from true time." Giratina roared their warped, sing-song cry and there was a _twist_ in the air that deposited a Luxray on the ground. Going by the prosthetic hind legs, it was Looker. He had a Duskull clamped in his mouth that he nearly dropped in shock.

"Agent Looker!" Uxie called. "Are you okay?" The agent nodded, but didn't open his mouth to speak.

"You… you're Dialga's avatar," Palkia noted. "Giratina… if you disapprove of avatars, why bring him here?"

"I disapprove of avatars, true, but I disapprove even more of Dialga falling apart and tearing up time as they collapse," Giratina said shortly. "Human. Dialga has need of you." Giratina flapped their wings and the Duskull that Looker was carrying was yanked out of his mouth, floating towards Giratina.

"Wait!" Looker called. "Cyrus must be taken back to our world to see justice!"

"I recognize this soul… the one who tore the rift between our worlds in the first place," Giratina said darkly. Cyrus vanished into the ragged blackness of Giratina's wings. "He will face justice, _that_ I can assure you. He is unimportant now. The integrity of this realm is what concerns me." Giratina flapped their wings again and Looker was dragged across the ground towards Dialga, who was still thrashing and keening unhappily.

"H… Hey!" Saylee yelled, struggling to pull herself to her feet. "You can't just… _force_ them into bonding like that!"

"Silence," Giratina said imperiously, the word heavy enough to push her back into the ground. "This matter will be brought to a close."

"The matter of… avatars," Looker said, ears flat against his head as he was dragged towards Dialga.

"You're Dialga's avatar," an Absol said with Cynthia's voice, stepping into Looker's path and causing him to stop. "And I've been told that I'm yours," she said, looking up at Giratina.

"I am uninterested, human," Giratina growled, their voice returning to gravel and glass. "You are of no use to me here and I have no reason to the living realm. Stand aside and allow Dialga to merge with their human."

"I will once you _give them a minute to talk_ ," Cynthia snapped. "Believe me, I don't want _you_ in _my_ head, either. I understand that this is extremely important, but you can give them just one minute, can't you?"

"There are no minutes here to take, human," Giratina said, settling their wings. "Be brief. My patience is weak and I have other issues to attend to."

"Thank you," Looker gasped as he was released. "I… feel Dialga's pain. If I can help them with such agony, I will not object. I simply wish to know…" He looked up at Palkia. "What has become of Lance within you?"

"Fucking _Lance_? Please tell me he's made a mistake?" Blue pleaded, looking at Saylee.

"I… don't think so," Saylee muttered, shaking her head, clinging to one of Red's white paws as she pushed herself back to her feet.

"Sir Lance is still very much himself," Palkia assured Looker. "When we return to the living realm, we will return to his mortal form. You will still be yourself, but you will be more, too."

"That is all I wished to know," Looker said, drawing himself up. "My thanks for your intervention, Sar Shirona, but I have had… reason to suspect that something like this was coming. I am ready." Cynthia stepped aside and he started walking carefully towards Dialga as they wailed wordlessly in agony. "Do not worry, Dialga," Looker said gently, walking towards Dialga's head. "I am here now. I am sure you knew that I was coming, but I am here now." He closed his eyes and leaned his head against Dialga's as a blinding blue glow enveloped them.

"Is it too late to ask what's going on?" Red asked.

"He's a god now, but not the god I'm worried about," Saylee said. Ho-oh was bent over Suicune, Entei and Raikou, who were all pressed to the ground, paws over their heads, whimpering.

"Now that that matter is settled…" Giratina growled. Their eyes and the red ridges of their wings glowed blood-red as they flew at Ho-oh with a chilling shriek of rage.

"SILVER!" Saylee screamed as the huge rainbow bird was pinned to the ground under Giratina. She leapt to her feet, running towards the grappling titans, but stumbled as something yanked on her tail. She looked back to see that Red had gripped her tail gently in his teeth and was pulling her back. "Red, let me _go_!"

He pulled her back enough to put a paw on her shoulder before letting her tail go. "We have… _so_ much to talk about," he said, sounding confused, "but right now, I don't think we can stop Giratina and Ho-oh from fighting just by jumping on them." Entei, Suicune and Raikou were all still flat to the ground in fear as Ho-oh used blasts of fire to ward off the fanged edges of Giratina's wings. "Ho-oh… the guy in it… he said he's our brother?"

"I found out who our dad is and he's a jackass, but yeah, we got a little half-brother out of him," Saylee said. "Red, we've _got_ to help him!"

"Of course we do, but a tiny Charmander jumping on Giratina isn't going to do anything to stop it," Red pointed out.

"What about a Charizard?"

Red and Saylee turned to see a huge Venusaur looming over them. She had a tiny yellow flower tucked over her ear and a familiar grin on her face. "Key?" Saylee asked.

"When we saw Cyrus before, he was a Dusknoir but when Looker brought him, he was a Duskull," Key explained, her voice now deep and rumbling. "So I thought… what if we can change, a little, how we appear?"

Next to her, Archie shot up, his colour darkening and a long, white mane growing under spiked golden armour. "She's right," he said, rearing up on his hind legs, baring the swordlike protrusions now attached to his forepaws. "Holy shit, I'm a _Samurott_!"

"Hell yeah," Blue said happily as his body grew into a huge, long, emerald serpent. "How big do you think I can get?" he asked as his body continued to grow and grow.

"Let's see," Saylee said, thinking _Charizard_ , thinking _wings and horns_ , thinking _I have to fight for Silver…_

Everything seemed to shrink around her as her neck elongated, her body and tail becoming big and heavy and _strong_. She flapped her wings, feeling new muscles flex powerfully. " _Brilliant_ ," she breathed. The field was clear: Cynthia and Palkia were both leaning over Dialga, watching the blue glow fade as the God of Time reappeared; Polly was hiding under her paws, same as the Beasts, while Giratina and Ho-oh screamed and lashed at each other; the three Lake Spirits were watching the two huge Gods fight and backing away, clinging to each other unhappily, without noticing the four transformations.

"So what's the plan of attack?" Archie asked, breathing ice crystals into the air.

"Does Giratina have any soft spots?" Blue asked. Leaves started to peel away from his body, floating into the air around him.

"Haven't heard of any," Key said, flexing the petals of the huge pink flower on her back.

"Then hit it hard with everything you've got," Saylee said, feeling the furnaces within her rear up as she flew up into the air and let off a Blast Burn. The tremendous wall of flame fell on Giratina's head like wrath itself, the fire washing over Ho-oh without damage. A second later, Archie's Hydro cannon and Key's Solar Beam blasted into Giratina's midsection, bowling the briefly disoriented God of Antimatter off of Ho-oh. As soon as the two were separated, Blue hissed as the thick roots of Frenzy Plant shot from him to wrap around Giratina, pinning it down.

"ENOUGH!" Giratina screeched, and they were all weighed down again. Saylee went crashing to the ground in front of Ho-oh, her increased weight and strength meaningless against Giratina's absolute power over the realm. _We only got it by pure surprise,_ she realized, struggling to rise again.

"You should not have done that," Ho-oh said lowly. "You should not interfere-"

" _You_ should shut up," Saylee snapped. "We're trying to protect _Silver_ , not you. _You're_ the one who pissed Giratina off by resurrecting the Beasts!"

"They did not deserve to die! Their souls cried out for rescue!" Ho-oh argued.

"Souls suffer death every day that did not deserve it and die crying out for rescue," Giratina snarled, the roots wrapped around them turning black and rotting off. "It was not your right to steal their souls and enslave them to yourself! Step aside," they commanded Saylee.

"No," she growled, pushing as hard as she could to stand. "It wasn't Ho-oh's right, maybe-"

"Although it's a bit rich for you to accuse them of controlling others when controlling us is all you've done since you got here," Blue put in, curling up into a tight spring as he fought against the pressure.

"-But Ho-oh isn't Ho-oh anymore, they're my brother too, and I won't stand here and watch you attack him," Saylee continued. "If you want him, you have to go through _me_."

"Stand _aside_ ," Giratina snarled, and she felt her feet dragging across the ground. Where she'd been, though, Red hopped into her place.

"I have no idea if I can curse a god, but I'm willing to try," Red declared. "That's my little brother _and_ my little sister you've attacked now and _I'm not having it._ " His tails flared, glowing with power.

"Do not make me hurt you too, dead one," Giratina growled. "Your soul is more fragile. Do not risk it."

"It's not a risk because you're not going to hurt him," Saylee said, hoping desperately that she was right. "Xatu told us how much you love life. Love _existence._ You won't risk destroying one of the souls you only want to protect. That's why you're mad at Ho-oh, right? You can't protect their souls if they don't die."

"It was not Ho-oh's right, but it is _done_ , Giratina," Mesprit pleaded. "This fighting does _nothing_ for any of us."

"Release. Them," Giratina demanded, gesturing to the Beasts. "Their souls are not yours to own and control!"

"L-Lord Giratina," Suicune stuttered, peering up. "F-Forgive us, but… Master does _not_ control us. We didn't even _see_ them for… for _centuries_ after we-after we were revived. When… When Master asks for our help, they _ask_."

"We _want_ to help Master," Raikou added. "Please… don't hate Master for saving us. Not when we _asked_ them to."

"We don't want to die, but we do not want to cause such fighting," Entei declared, their voice shaking but powerful. "If it will calm your rage, Lord Giratina..."

"You need not sacrifice yourselves for me," Ho-oh said, spreading their wings protectively between the Beasts and Giratina. "You have been protecting me ever since I merged with my avatar. _I_ will protect _you_."

"You won't have to do it alone," Cynthia said, grinning as she looked over the edge of the tower that they were standing on top of. A second later, there was a flurry as a flock of Pokemon flew past her; Chaz, Pedro, Tobias, Skye, Topaz, Titania, Puck, Tashigi, Zoe and Warin. Several of them have other Pokemon on their back. "There's a _ton_ of other Pokemon storming the tower from the bottom," Cynthia continued.

"Oh my god, is that Topaz? TOPAZ! HI!" Polly yipped excitedly. "YOU LOOK AWESOME!"

"Polly!" Topaz cried, swooping down to hug her late friend. "We've missed you so much!"

"Glad to see you're all alright," Saylee sighed in relief.

"Saylee? You're a Charizard now?" Chaz asked, landing next to her and checking his height against hers. They were exactly the same. "Shame. You were so cute. Who're we fighting?"

"Giratina, maybe?" Saylee said, looking back to the god in question. "We don't want to, we _really_ don't, but we will if we have to. I'm _going_ to protect my brother…"

"...and we're going to protect our friend," Tobias declared, floating next to Saylee.

"You willnae be the first god we fought," Mary added.

"Damn, pal, what've ya been up ta without me?" Pedro chuckled. "I ain't fought a god before, but I'm game ta try!"

"Are _all_ of these Pokemon your friends?" Red asked, looking up at Saylee. She nodded, and he grinned. "You've made some _amazing_ friends," he said happily.

"How did you find us?" Saylee asked.

"He showed us the way," Titania said, nodding to a single Xatu who was floating among the flying-types without apparently flapping his wings. "He said Cynthia was here too!"

"Titania! Are the rest of the team here?" Cynthia called.

"On their way," Titania promised, looking aside as the Xatu floated past her.

"You are not the only one who loves existence, Giratina," he said. "They love each other, too, human and Pokemon. Is that not worthy of your respect?"

"You," Giratina breathed. _"YOU!"_

Xatu floated forwards, his form shifting. Wings turned to legs, green faded away as a huge body of white, grey and gold rose over the assembled Pokemon.

"Me," Arceus said. Their voice had changed, becoming something that was simultaneously as quiet as a whisper and yet seemed to fill every particle of the air, wrapping their words around the brain as softly as cashmere. "You don't want to hurt any of these people, Giratina. All this rage… I know what it's really about."

"Do you, Arceus? _Do you?!"_ Giratina roared, their wings shifting to fanged black ribbons that shot out and wrapped around Arceus' throat, the red fangs scraping against the god's throat.

"Holy _shit_ ," Blue gasped as the two gigantic gods stared each other down.

"Sssshhhh," Cynthia hissed. "This is between them."

"I am sorry, Giratina," Arceus said calmly. "It has been so long, and I-"

"Shut up, you _bastard_ ," Giratina snapped. "You _bastard_. I _feel_ every life that arrives here, you understand? I shape this world for them and I _feel_ them. I _feel_ the suffering that they died in. I feel the suffering that they _lived_ in! I only wanted to protect them after they lost their material bodies-I _trusted_ you, damn you! I trusted you to protect them while they're _in_ the material plane! And instead they destroy each others' lives incessantly and _now_ , thanks to your pet _humans_ , they even threaten to destroy each others' _deaths_! _HOW COULD YOU?!"_

"I know, my friend," Arceus said sadly. "I… I have failed. I know I have. I know all of the suffering in this world and it is so tempting to reach out and _make_ it stop. But don't you see, Giratina? I cannot _control_ them without doing exactly what you hate Ho-oh for-without taking command of their spirits. And if I do that, their spirits die-not just die, in fact, but cease to be altogether." They sighed, a sound of deepest, most aching exhaustion. "I could not do it, to destroy what you so love. I have tried to help, as I can, without taking control. But in the end, I have failed them anyway. I have failed _you_ , and I should have come to apologize sooner. Giratina…"

Everything was a hush. Giratina's rage still crackled palpably in the air, but Arceus' sorrow washed over everything, even heavier than Giratina's power.

Arceus bowed their head. "I am sorry," they whispered. "This rage you have been building for so long-it is not for these people. It is not even really for Ho-oh. It is for me. Let me at least protect them right, just this once. Take your rage out on _me_."

The black ribbons kept wrapping around Arceus' body, smothering the white, grey and gold under black and red. "You let them _stay_ -let them _fight_ -let them think I would ever _hurt_ them-" Giratina roared.

"I know," Arceus said. "I'm sorry. I want to make it right, but I don't know how. All I can do is have faith."

"Have faith? What is there for _us_ to have faith in?" Giratina growled. " _We_ are what _they_ have faith in! What they _should_ be able to have faith in!"

"And they are what _we_ can have faith in," Arceus said gently. "I feel their suffering as you do, my friend, I really do. But don't you also feel their _love_?" He looked around at the assembly, human and Pokemon, living and dead. "The love that drives them to stand together against Galactic, Cyrus, even you. The love that bonds their spirits together, even after death. The love that makes them chase each other across worlds. The love that brings them happiness as much as suffering. They made that, too, together. Cyrus felt only the suffering in the world and it devoured him, but things are not so simple. Don't you know that better than anybody?"

Giratina drew closer, their face looming ever closer to Arceus'. It was so sudden; one moment, Giratina was towering over Arceus in rage, and the next, the golden forehead was leaning gently against the white, the strangling ribbons _hugging_.

"I remember the love we once bore for each other, my friend, all of us together," Giratina murmured. "The love we found for _them_. But I have been alone with souls that I was powerless to help for so, so long..."

"You are anything but powerless, my oldest, dearest friend," Arceus chuckled, closing their eyes as they leaned against Giratina, "and you _have_ helped them. You have given them _infinite_ chances to live and love and find happiness again. And in return, they have helped you and helped each other. They protect each other, believe in this world, keep it stable, don't they?"

"They do," Giratina said. "So much of this world comes from their own minds now, their own memories."

"The living world is not so lucky," Arceus said sorrowfully. "I want to ask your help again, Giratina, as I asked it so, so long ago. I know I have no right. I ask only on _their_ behalf." He opened his eyes, leaning back and looking around again. "Come back with me, my friend. Help me help them. Help me figure out how to build them a perfect world and do it. Please."

"Please? _You_ are _pleading_ with me?" Giratina said, and _laughed_. It was a clear, perfect, tinkling sound, as joyful as bells at a wedding.

"I have spent some time among mortals," Arceus said, "and they are great believers in politeness. I know you have a professed distaste for humans, but I know you, my friend. I know you love their lives as much as any living thing. Come back to the world with me. Learn humans as I have, learn to know them as well as you know pokemon. Learn to help them all. I will plead as much as needs be. I can kneel, too, if that would help," they added.

"You…" Giratina shook their head. "I thought you had changed. I thought you had forgotten me, and all that we once hoped for. But you're just the same as you ever were." They sighed. "I missed you, my friend."

"And I, you," Arceus said. "Please tell me I will have to miss you no longer. I'm very serious about the kneeling."

"...Maybe a little longer. Much damage was done to this realm, and I have to repair it." Giratina withdrew from Arceus, looking down at Cynthia. "You, human…" they began.

"Cynthia," she interrupted. "My _name_ is Cynthia."

Giratina nodded. "Cynthia," they said. "I do not understand humans. One day, I may need your help in doing so. Can I count on your help at that time?"

"If you ask nicely," Cynthia said, making Titania chuckle. "We really do set store by politeness."

"Then I shall remember to say please," Giratina said, spreading its wings again. "Cyrus Akagi, I will keep… I have a place for him. But the rest of you who are alive must return to your world now. No doubt there is damage there that you must repair."

"Thank you, my friend," Arceus said gently. "On behalf of everybody in the world… thank you for all that you do."

"About time somebody said it," Giratina said, flapping their wings. A huge portal of light appeared in the air.

Saylee felt herself being pulled off of her feet. "Wait-" she gasped, looking desperately at Pedro, at Eliza, at Polly, at _Red_ -

But before she could say another word, there was nothing but light.

{}

{}

 _Name: Cynthia. Species: Giratina. Nature: Lonely. Ability: Pressure. Level: 47._

 _...I know that is by no means what Pressure is ingame, but it was fun to play around with XD Also the nature makes me really sad..._

 _Man, I've been wanting to write this for a long time and now it's here! Giratina and Arceus finally come face to face for the first time in far, far too long. They've both been interesting to conceptualize. The whole mythology of this world's been fun to build. There's still a lot more to come, of course, but here's the climax of the Reverse arc-once Giratina is able to navigate their own realm easily, what with Dialga and Palkia's raging powers getting back under control, they shut shit down pretty easily, though Cyrus was already pretty broken by whatever memories the time distortion dragged him through._

 _By the way, what Looker says to Cyrus early on, "It is not our duty to complete the work, but nor are we free to abandon it", is a quote from the Torah, I believe. I'm not Jewish, but when I read that I thought it was one of the best philosophies for life I ever read. Do your bit, because every little helps in this world, but it's okay if you don't feel like you're doing something huge in the world. Just do_ something. _That said, if it's in any way inappropriate for me to quote it like this, or if I'm wildly misinterpreting it, let me know and I'll remove it._

 _On a separate note, while working on the Unova fics I realized something that's kind of weird about the Unova games-there's pretty much no sign of Native Americans aside from Braviary and Sigilyph's designs and maybe Alder? I want to try rectifying that in-fic, but I'm not totally sure of the best way to go about it-I tried searching for Native American fans' feelings on the game and mostly saw complaints about Alder without many suggestions of how to better include Native American people and cultures into the game. I can research the tribes that lived in New York State, but what's to best way to go about including them? I don't know if any Native American Pokemon fans are reading this fic, but if you are and having any suggestions or opinions on what definitely NOT to do, please let me know! (For that matter, it's much further away, but I know some Hawaiian fans have very strong feelings about Alola, so again, please shout it out of you think there's anything I really should or should not do. Same token for any French fans with opinions on Kalos, although I never saw as much discourse about that.)_

 _Finally, I wanna give a shout-out to the anon who left a guest review on FFnet the other day. I'm gonna charitably assume that English isn't your first language, and that you don't realize saying "Come on, upload the next chapter already!" is really, really rude. If you want to read more, that's great! But it's generally accepted as polite to first mention that you actually like what you're reading and why you like it, then ask for an update if you really have to-but do you really have to? Admittedly I've been paying a lot more attention to AO3 these days, but it doesn't seem to be as common as it was when I was a young teenager for authors to hold updates hostage until they get X number of reviews, and even then that setup only gets anybody anything if they SAY that they're not posting until they get X responses, which I didn't. What I HAVE said, in my A/Ns, is that my current job is a massive drain on my time and energy and that my depression has been really kicking up over the last couple of years. What I HAVE asked for is the readers' patience while I keep working as much as I can on this project that I love and which you already have SIX YEARS of regular weekly material from. What I HAVE promised is that I will never stop writing and updating this series, because of the fun I have doing it and the joy I get from interacting with the readers._

 _Unfortunately, your review implies either that I am an asshole who is deliberately withholding fic for undisclosed reasons, or that I am somehow committing a crime by going to work, doing my cleaning and laundry, and otherwise maintaining my life to the best of my depressed ass' ability rather than dedicating every second to writing more fic for you. Unfortunately, this review turned up on one of my bad days and I didn't get back to this fic for nearly a week because just thinking about it made me feel bad, and thanks to depression just feeling bad quickly snowballs into my entire ability to do_ anything _shutting down. Man, how do I even function as an adult when feeling bad drags me down so hard? Well, because writing is fun, it always pumps me up and helps drain the poison, and the feedback is usually so good that it makes me feel great and able to do more with my day. When something writing-related is what makes me feel bad, everything goes to shit._

 _Sorry, this is not me trying to guilt-trip you. This is not me trying to say that people shouldn't leave negative reviews on my fics, because if I've done something wrong, I need to know about it! Constructive criticism gives me something to work on, and that makes me_ want _to write. This is me explaining why leaving a rude, anonymous review demanding updates is counterintuitive, because I didn't get back to this chapter until I'd had a really good weekend and a really good half-bottle of Suntory whisky. If you want more good fic from writers you like, tell us what you liked and why instead of rudely demanding updates._

 _This one ain't for you._


	68. Chapter 67

{ _?_ }

Saylee wasn't sure how long she'd been awake before she realized that she _was_ awake. It had taken her a long while to reconnect to a sense of self, and even longer to figure out what _herself_ was. She managed to narrow it down fairly quickly once some careful twitching of her limbs and the lack of a movable tail made her pretty sure she was human, and that being confirmed, rolled over onto her hands and knees and looked around her.

All around them was snow, but Raikou was prowling around a circle of grass on which all the humans were lying. More Pokemon were scattered around in the snow and Entei was walking between them, melting away the snow in their wake as they dug up unconscious or semiconscious Pokemon. Chaz had already melted his own patch and was groaning unhappily with his nose buried in his tailflame. Suicune was also trotting across the surface of a lake that they looked to be on the banks of, checking on Sam and a few other (hopefully water-type) Pokemon who were floating in it.

Lance and Looker were lying on the grass nearby, both pale and twitching slightly. Blue was groaning and holding his hand up in front of his face, wiggling his fingers and staring at them in some confusion. Key was rubbing her face in a way that suggested that she was trying to figure out what it looked like. Archie was trying to sit up, but he overbalanced and fell over. Dawn, Lucas and Barry were all sitting up with their arms around each others' shoulders, leaning against each other and mumbling to each other. Silver was sitting up on his knees, but doubled over with his arms crossed over his chest, coughing and spitting up blood.

"Ss-illlvrru!" Saylee choked out, her lips, throat and tongue all still feeling like they were the wrong shape. Standing up was too much of a balancing exercise, so she dragged herself across the damp grass by the elbows until she reached him.

"I'll be… fine," Silver coughed, before toppling backwards and landing on his ass, still curled over his chest.

" _Not…_ faaan," Saylee insisted awkwardly, pushing herself up to kneeling so she could look over him for injuries. "Wha happn?" As she put an arm around his shoulder, she noticed something moving in his arms. "Whassa?"

"Had to see if I could do it," Silver said with a sheepish grin. "And it worked, hah! Well, sort of…" He unfolded his arms and held up a tiny, human baby. The sleeping baby stirred and started to cry as he held it up. Silver was radiating extreme body heat, so the air was warm, but likely still cold compared to being close to Silver.

Saylee gasped, whipping off her scarf and wrapping it carefully around the baby, going slowly through a combination of having to concentrate intensely to work her fingers and having no real idea what she was doing, having never wrapped a baby before. Once she was fairly sure the baby was wrapped safely and warmly, she picked him up carefully, cradling him in her arms. She'd never held a baby before, and only had a general idea that you had to support the head, but it seemed to be good enough, because the baby calmed down almost instantly.

"Quessin," Blue mumbled. Saylee looked around to see that he was still lying on his back, but had his hand raised in the air. "Whya _hell_ yuh hava _baby_?"

"You… you brought a soul back from the other side!" Dawn gasped, spotting the baby. "You can't _do_ that!"

"Hey there, I'm Ho-oh, god of rebirth, nice to meet you," Silver said sarcastically with a little wave. "Pretty sure I _can_ do that, and, oh yeah, just did." He coughed wetly, leaning over to spit blood onto the ground.

"Yeah, but it doesn't look like you're _supposed_ to," Barry pointed out. "Also, didn't Arceus just _barely_ stop Giratina from kicking your ass for doing that?"

"Yeah, but Giratina didn't come back to this world, did they? Let's see that asshole fight in a realm they _don't_ control every inch of," Silver argued.

Key crawled over, staring at the baby. "'Slike… innnssstannn' rrrreeincaaarrrrnaaasheeennn?" she said, slowly and carefully.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked. "Why're you guys talking weird?"

"Stuff dun wor riiii," Saylee mumbled, staring down at the baby. It was still whimpering a little, but with a yawn startled to settle down.

"Lou's right, they've never been Pokémon before," Dawn pointed out, looking to her brother. Saylee hadn't heard him speak, but the Lake Trio had spoken of being connected in the Reverse...

"Awwww!" Key cooed, finally making it over to Saylee and sitting up on her knees to peer at the baby. "So cuuuuuue! Who izzit?"

"I dunno…" Saylee began, trailing off as the baby yawned again, then opened his eyes and stared up at her.

His irises were bright red. They looked exactly like Silver's.

"…Red?!" Saylee gasped, clutching the baby tighter. He made a happy squeal and reached a tiny hand up towards her.

"Wha?!" Blue yelped, rolling over and crawling hastily towards Saylee. He leaned against her back to look closely at the baby over her shoulder. The baby waved his pudgy little hand up at Blue as well. "I… thin' itisss," he slurred in shock.

"I didn't get dragged into the portal as fast as all of you, I guess because of Ho-oh," Silver panted. "He was still close to me, and I remembered how Ho-oh saved the Beasts and thought I'd give it a go. Guess it didn't work perfectly, but… OI! Don't _cry_ , dammit!"

"Sorry," Saylee sniffed. Her tears were chilly on her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them. She couldn't let go of the baby in her arms. It felt like she'd never be able to take her hands off of him. "I'm so… _happy_. Even if 'e's no azzee was… he's Red. He za _live_. He's gotta secon' chansss…"

"Bet growin' upin Sinnoh'll be way more fun'n growin' upin Kan'o," Blue said, draping an arm around Saylee's shoulder and sitting next to her, staring down at the baby. "Wel'ome back, pal."

"No' wannin' inerrup' th' bay-by sher, bu' some'in's comin' outta tha cave," Archie said, pointing at the dark cleft in the cliff wall next to them. Blue leaned on Saylee's shoulder as he pushed himself to his feet, staggering forwards to stand protectively in front of her, Silver and Red, and offered Key a hand up so she could do the same. Entei, Suicune and Raikou circled the cave entrance, sniffing the air. Archie also pushed himself to his feet, patting his belt and pockets and scowling as he found a complete absence of Pokémon.

"It's _him_ ," Silver said in surprise. Dawn, Lucas and Barry's jaws all dropped even before whoever was in the cave stepped out into the light.

It was Steven, carrying Cynthia. "It's okay, I was just closing the distortion," Steven said, kicking through the snow and laying Cynthia down on the grass. "Giratina had some stuff to say to Cynthia before they sent her away..." He looked at Lance and Looker, then nodded. "Looks like Palkia and Dialga are settled. Good. Distortion on this scale will never happen again." He glanced at Saylee with a curious expression on her face, then at Silver. "Ho-oh, did you bring back a souvenir? Naughty, naughty…"

"Bite me," Silver replied. "What the fuck are you playing at?"

"Silver! You can't talk to him like that!" Dawn said, looking panicked. "He's… you can't do that!"

"Stop telling me what I can't do," Silver grumbled. "And you!" he yelled at Steven. "What the fuck is your problem?! You could've stopped all of this, couldn't you?! Don't try and tell me you couldn't! I _know_ you now! Well, Ho-oh does, but you know what I mean!"

"What are you on about?" Archie asked, looking suspiciously at Steven. " _Could_ you have stopped all of this?"

"Well, in a manner of speaking… yes," Steven said slowly.

"Wha?! Why the hell di'n't you?!" Blue yelled, staggering over to where Steven was crouching next to Cynthia and hauling him to his feet by his lapels. "People an' Pokemon've _died_!"

"Let him go!" Barry yelled frantically. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"It's okay," Steven said calmly, raising a hand. "And I didn't interfere because it's dangerous. Anyway, I prefer not to. It'd be far too easy to fall back into the habit of micro-managing, and that… wouldn't be right."

"What the hell are you babbling about?" Blue demanded.

Saylee stood up, keeping Red clutched tight to her chest. "Steven," she said. "I always thought there was something odd about you, and I'm starting to see what. For a while, I thought you were an avatar, but… that's not quite it, is it?"

"Yes and no," Steven conceded. "It's complicated."

"Un-complicate it," Blue snapped.

"Very well," Steven sighed, looking thoughtfully at the sky as if he was oblivious of the fact that Blue's hands were all but around his neck. "I am… how should I put this… hmm… Arceus."

"…what," Blue said flatly, staring at Steven for a long moment.

"That's the uncomplicated version," Steven said helpfully.

"He's not lying," Dawn said quietly. "I can… well, I think we can all see him," she said, turning her head to Lucas and Barry, who nodded. Blue stepped away, hands raised.

"Don't worry, a smiting is not forthcoming," Steven promised, looking up at the sky again at the sound of a happy roar. Charlotte barrelled down to hug Chaz, knocking him back down to the ground when he'd barely gotten back up. "I think we'd better get out of here. Do you mind if I wait until we're at the hospital to re-complicate things? Sir Ryushi and Agent Looker are both going to need medical attention for a while and after the stunt you pulled, Silver, I think you're going to need some too."

Silver just spat blood at him.

{ _Darnua 23_ _rd_ _, 7:43am}_

 _{Eterna City}_

"Now… where do I start…" Steven sighed, running a hand through his hair.

When they'd arrived at Eterna City Hospital, they'd found it in chaos. The spatial distortions had caused any number of injuries as people abruptly fell through rifts in space or had something dropped on them. Some of Galactic's prisoners had also needed medical attention, as had a fair number of Galactic _members_. Cynthia was able to get them a room and three beds for Lance, Looker and Silver, as well as smoothing things over with the staff who recognized Dawn, Lucas and Barry from a Missing Persons alert from Canalave Hospital. The place was so full and everybody was so overworked, the staff had been grateful to shove the Champion's friends in a room, hook the unconscious ones up to monitors and trust Cynthia's insistence that they'd be fine given sleep. Riley, Michael and Dante had come running in not long after they'd arrived, and while Saylee hadn't heard Riley's quiet conversation with Cynthia-she'd been too busy calling her mother to let her know that they were okay and to ask her to come to the hospital as fast as she could-it looked like he was being brought up to speed. She was, at least, relieved to see that Dante was wearing a number of golden rings on his fingers that she hadn't seen him with before.

Their Pokemon had gone back up the mountain to help with… whatever was happening with the rest of Galactic up there. Saylee had no idea if they were being killed or imprisoned. She was too tired to do anything but clutch Red to her chest, feeding him from a bottle that a pediatric nurse had mixed up for her, waiting for anything Steven Stone said to make sense for the first time ever.

"Start with Arceus," Cynthia said tightly. "How long? How long have you been…?"

"About six billion years," Steven said with a shrug. "The thing you have to understand is that I'm not an avatar like they are…" He gestured to Lance and Looker, who were unconscious and sweating, but thankfully not randomly warping time or space in their sleep. "...or you will be, Cynthia. I'm not a god merged with a human. There was no just-human called Steven who started rooming with the god Arceus. I am only, and have always been, for the entirety of this human identity's existence… Arceus."

"So you've been lying to us this whole time," Riley said angrily.

"Hey! Whoa! No! Not about everything!" Steven insisted. "Pretending that I am not anything other than a human called Steven, yes, okay. But that doesn't mean I'm not _also_ a human called Steven. I'm not lying when I say that my favourite class in school was Science. Or that I _really_ like cake. Or that I care about you. All of that's real. What do you expect me to do, walk around telling everyone 'hey, I'm the lord and creator of all'? Do you know how well that would not work for anybody?"

"But why would you do it?" Saylee asked. "Walk around pretending to be human? Live a human life? Why? How many times have you done this?"

"This is actually the first time I've done it successfully," Steven said, gesturing to himself. "And I had to extract the vast majority of my own power to do it. I tried a few times before, but… well, trying to bond with adult humans tended to obliterate their minds. I couldn't safely join with them without destroying them, not the way weaker gods can. So I tried a few other times to merge with an unborn human, one who didn't have a mind yet, but…" He winced, looking a little ill. "Let's just say it ended badly for those poor mothers. That stopped me for a few thousand years, until the Kanto Civil War started looming on the future. That war had the potential to be even bigger and more devastating than the Tao War, which was the last time I had been prompted to get involved… I really do try not to interfere too much," he added. "I _could_ control everything that every Pokémon on this planet thinks, says and does, but… I prefer not to, aside from ensuring that they can't see me for what I am. It's boring, it's domineering, and frankly, it's a little disrespectful to the whole miracle that is life."

"You can control Pokémon?" Blue asked warily.

"You mean you became champion by _cheating_?" Cynthia said, incensed.

"No!" Steven said hastily. "I said, I _could_ , but I _don't_! I swear I didn't cheat my way to the top! Even if I'm not controlling Pokémon, I can still see their strength and weaknesses and abilities perfectly, which maybe gives me a bit of an edge, but a lot of veteran trainers can do that as well as I can! Well, _almost_ as well."

"The question I was going to ask," Blue interjected over Cynthia's snarling, "is why specify Pokémon? Can you control us too?"

"Nope," Steven said flatly. "Because I didn't make humans. You guys are a new one on me. Just kinda turned up six thousand years ago through a dimensional rip. It happens sometimes. Mostly pitches up creatures like that Missing One, stuff that doesn't quite interface with how reality works around these parts, and they tend to die pretty quick. Humans are the first foreigners that managed to survive and thrive around here. Your homeworld must be pretty similar to this one."

"Wait… we're _aliens_?" Barry said, sounding a mix between horrified and ecstatic. "We're from another _planet_?!"

"Score one for the weird sci-fi cultists," Michael commented.

"That explains the _huge_ biological gulf between humans and Pokémon!" Dawn gasped. "Oh, wow… this changes our entire understanding of natural philosophy! You have to tell us more," she begged Steven.

"Ask your god," he said mildly. "Uxie'll remember the times when humans first appeared. It'll remember what we taught them, and what we learned from them. Whoever designed you did some _really_ interesting brainwork, although going by the interior design they were a bit of a sadist when it comes to how breeding works."

"...holy shit, Hoopa _remembers_ that happening," Dante said, a little glassy-eyed, presumably half-into a separate mental conversation. "It was their job to try and take anything that turned up here back where it came from before it died, but…" He gave Steven a quizzical look. "You insisted on letting humans stay. Why?"

"Because… I recognized you," Steven said, looking at Saylee. "In fact, when I met you, I recognized _you_ specifically."

"Excuse me?" Key said, looking from Saylee to Steven. "How old are _you_ , Lee?"

" _I'm_ 21, but…" A memory struck her, of a piece of eggshell the size of a continent moving in the frozen dark, only really perceptible by the gap it created in the faint vista of stars. "Morty," Saylee said slowly, looking up at Steven. "When Morty became Celebi, he started accidentally time-jumping. We saw… something…"

"You saw the moment I hatched," Steven said simply. "The first living thing I ever saw was the two of you. Then you were gone, and I was alone… it was terrifying," he said quietly. "I didn't _want_ to be alone. I wanted somebody to be there, and…" He held up his hands, as if holding something between them. "I could sort of… see how to bring things together, to make them into other things… no language is really designed to explain this. The closest I can say is that I can manipulate things on a molecular level, at least when I'm at full power, but that's not really an adequate explanation. I ended up with a bare, rudimentary attempt at a planet… and I managed one friend."

"Giratina?" Cynthia asked.

Steven shook his head. "Giratina came not long after, when I got stronger, but my first attempt was… well, you know them as Mew. They're endlessly kind, gentle and compassionate, because that was what I wanted… and creative, for the same reasons. They helped me start to learn how to really use my powers."

"If there's one thing that centuries of brain research have really told us, it's that personalities are _not_ something that you can create on a molecular level," Riley pointed out.

"Like I said… not really an accurate description, just the best I can do," Steven said with a shrug.

"We are _not_ going down that road of inquiry right now," Saylee declared. "So you don't normally interfere, except you decided to take a chance and try with the Kanto Civil War… except you didn't, because unless I miss my guess, Steven Stone was a little kid when the war ended."

"My bad," Steven admitted. "Look, this is _really_ hard to explain in a language that only accounts for four dimensions, but when you're seeing the universe from a perspective that ticks over centuries and isn't entirely attached to linear time _anyway_ , it can be really, _really_ hard to manifest at the time you want. I hit about fifteen years later than I'd meant to, but to be fair I think I did pretty well to land in the right century. And I hadn't anticipated Mewtwo's involvement. They're a bit of a blind spot for me. It's pretty fascinating. Anyway… once I was here, I decided to stick it out, because hey, I'd finally managed it, and getting a really good look at human physiology from the inside for the first time, might as well make the most of it. And…" he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I… didn't want to upset my parents by just up and vanishing."

"Do they know?" Riley asked. "That you're…?"

"They do not," Steven said, shaking his head. "I guess… I'm a little scared of how they'd respond if I told them. I've never had parents before, y'know. Whoever laid my egg, they were long gone by the time I hatched. I more or less had to raise myself, which is a rough job even when you have the power to shape planets." He shook his head, smiling softly "It's… nice. They're good people. I love them, more than I'd ever expected to."

Lucas stood up, walking over to Steven, looking him very intensely in the eye. "Your feelings seem sincere," Dawn said quietly.

"Maybe they are," Riley said, "but you've been lying for so long, Steven, it's so easy for you."

"I want to make up for that," Steven insisted. "It's time. Things are going to change in a big way soon. I owe you all the truth, and so much more."

"An argument could be made that we owe you for… well, everything," Key said, "but everything includes shit like cancer and people like Cyrus, so…" She frowned. "What… actually _happened_ to Cyrus?" she asked. "Did Giratina…?"

"Giratina would never destroy any soul," Steven assured her. "Wherever they've put him… he might be able to leave eventually, start over again. Maybe someday. But again, given the scales of time we're talking about… someday might be a billion years from now."

"I've been wondering… what does _leave_ mean?" Blue asked. "Are we talking reincarnation or what?"

"For some," Steven said with a nod. "Some stay in the Reverse. The longer you do that, the greater the risk of losing your memories of when you were alive, but there are those who keep a strong sense of identity and… well, there are so many more planes of reality than you can perceive. There are so many other places to go, once you learn how. Or so I understand," he added with a shrug. "I've never died yet, myself."

" _Yet_ ," Cynthia growled menacingly.

"Hey… isn't that your mother?" Archie said, pointing out of the window. Saylee peered out to see her mother, Byron, the doctors Hikari and Barry's mother all running up the road to the hospital, along with a man who was so lanky and had such spiky blonde hair that he had to be Barry's father.

"Not that I want to miss _this_ game of twenty questions, but your parents are here," she said, setting the now-empty bottle aside and standing up, looking at Dawn, Lucas and Barry. "And so are mine, for that matter, and I _really_ need to talk to them. So we'll go do that, and… Steven?"

"Yes?" he said, looking at her with eyes that had turned light yellow-green. She made a mental note to get a chart made, because knowing what she knew now about him, his eyes were _definitely_ actually changing colour.

"You owe all of us _so_ many answers," she said, "but you owe your parents answers, too. You lied to them first, before anybody else. Not counting me and Morty," she added.

"Hey, at three seconds old, even _I_ hadn't started lying to anybody yet," Steven protested as Saylee and Blue started shepherding Dawn, Lucas and Barry out of the room.

{}

{}

 _I'm so mad. I wrote Silver resurrecting Red like three years ago and because of my reduced posting rate over the past year this plot development didn't happen until Steven Universe ALREADY had a demi-human resurrect a human in a manner that had already revived and altered a big furry beast. At least Red's not pink now…_

 _I've honestly had most of this chapter written for 2-3 years, it just needed some editing and updates to catch up to things that have changed since. Feels good to have several things, like that Steven is Arceus or that humans aren't originally from Pokearth, officially out there._

 _Also, next chapter will see the return of the Pokemon/death counters and team rosters._


	69. Chapter 68

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 23_ _rd_ _, 7:43am}_

 _{Eterna City}_

"Oh, thank goodness," Johanna gasped, moving through the crowded hospital lobby as fast as she could when she caught sight of her daughter.

"'Scuse me, pardon me, sorry folks, 'scuse…" Byron called, helping her edge through the crowd queuing for information and at one point actually picking her up and lifting her over a man with a broken leg lying on the ground with his kids grouped around him. People with non-lethal injuries were strewn all over with friends or family trying to care for their injuries while overworked hospital staff hurried to and fro.

Saylee and Blue, at least, seemed to be walking fine and had no visible injuries, so as soon as Johanna reached them she didn't hesitate to fling her arms around Saylee. She reached out with one hand to snag Blue's jacket and drag him in too. "Thank the gods you're both okay," she gasped. She stepped back a little, looking around though not letting go of Saylee or Blue. "Where's Silver? Is he okay?"

"He'll be okay, Mum, he's just resting upstairs," Saylee assured her, grinning broadly. "He's just… tired. Mum..."

Something gurgled, and Johanna stepped back a little further to see what her daughter was carrying. She'd vaguely registered that Saylee had something in her arms, but hadn't really processed it beyond trying not to crush it while hugging her daughter. It wasn't a Pokemon, as she might've expected, but a human baby. "Oh," she gasped, reaching out to take the baby from Saylee, who wasn't holding it quite right. "Poor thing. Where's the parents? Are you trying to find them?"

"Mum…" Saylee said, her grin only widening. Blue was wearing a big smile too, not the mischievous grin that had been his favourite expression since he was roughly four years old but a broad smile of uncontainable happiness. "This'll take a lot of explaining, but…"

The baby opened his eyes, and they were bright red.

Johanna's earliest memory was of waking up to find her bag being stolen in Vermillion City. She'd had nothing but the clothes on her back, the baby in her belly and the toddler who'd been clinging to her side. She'd wondered, on occasion, before she knew for sure, if he was her child by blood or if she'd found him orphaned on her way to Vermillion, but it had never really mattered, any more than the identity of her _ex_ did. Red was _her_ son, _her_ child, and even if she had no memory of seeing him as a baby, she _knew_.

"...Red?" she whispered, her whole world spinning around her. At the sound of his name, or the sound of her voice, the baby gurgled again, a baby smile stretching across his face as he wiggled his impossibly tiny fingers.

"What?!" Byron said, leaning over her shoulder to look at the baby. "Jo… that's a baby."

"That baby is Red," Blue said, grabbing Byron's elbow and nodding towards the corridor going back into the hospital. "How, we probably should not discuss in public, but it _is_."

"Silver… found him," Saylee said, grinning so hard she was squeezing tears out of her eyes as she wrapped an arm around her mother and tugged her after Blue and Byron. "Dawn, Lucas and Barry are okay too," she called, reminding Johanna abruptly that the doctors Hikari, Professor Rowan and Mr and Mrs Jun had all come to the hospital with her and Byron. "Cynthia got us a room-we're all crammed in, but they're fine, I promise!"

"Saylee, your voice sounds _awful,_ what happened?" Johanna asked faintly, clutching Red as tightly as she dared as she followed Saylee into the hallway. She had a vague feeling that you were supposed to have a pass to get through most of these doors, but with the building bursting at the seams with patients, the doors had been left unlocked. Nurses, human and Pokemon, were running back and forth, pushing gurneys or wheelchairs or carrying armfuls of supplies.

"I'm fine, Mum, just got beat up a little," Saylee insisted, a phrase that never failed to make Johanna's heart hurt. "Upstairs, room 204," she added. The Juns, Hikaris and Professor Rowan ran past, but Johanna stayed where she was, leaning against the wall to stay out of the way while she looked at the baby in her arms. He kicked a little, eyes wandering without focus, seeming perfectly comfortable and content with all the sound and colour around him. _An old soul_ , she remembered Sandra Oak saying of Saylee, back when they'd first met. Blue had already been a noisy toddler who could barely be made to sit still or go to sleep, but Saylee had been a calm baby who slept most of the time if left to it. An old soul.

"Silver's made living Pokemon outta fossils before," Byron said, "but making a _human_ baby's definitely a new one…"

"We kinda went to the afterlife without dying, it was really weird," Blue said calmly. "We saw Red. Seems like most souls move on pretty quickly to… stuff, or things, or something, but Red hung around and then Silver brought him back with. Don't think he's supposed to do it, but whatever, it's done now. And here you probably thought you got off lightly getting stepkids who were already preteens at least."

"I think I'll survive," Byron said, putting an arm around Johanna's shoulders and leaning his head on hers. She could _feel_ the tender smile on his face as he looked down at Red. "Plus, my folks will be _ecstatic_ to get a baby grandkid after all. You okay, Jo?"

Johanna nodded, leaning back against her husband, letting him hold her up. _He could go to the primary school in the bay,_ she thought giddily. _He could join the sea scouts, he loves exploring. There's so many things I want to cook for him once he's on solids…_

She looked up again as Saylee gently stroked her brother's cheek. "He might not be… who he was," she said cautiously. "We don't know yet if he'll have all his memories or not. But it's _him_ , Mum. We get him _back._ "

Johanna nodded, leaning over to press a kiss to her daughter's forehead, lacking words for how _much_ she was feeling. "Silver," she said abruptly, remembering her other son. "Where is he? You said he was recovering?"

"This way," Blue said, pointing at a stairwell. This, at least, was a little more empty than the corridors-doctors and nurses were still hurrying up and down the stairs, but all of the wheelchairs and gurneys were moving by elevator. The ward upstairs was jam-packed, beds being refilled as soon as they were vacated. The private room that they were headed for was also so full that it had spilled out into the hall. Sir Riley Aaronson and Sar Cynthia Shirona were standing a little way down the hall, talking quietly to each other with serious expressions on their faces. Michael was on the phone, speaking rapid Orren to somebody. Key was next to him, also apparently calling somebody. The door was hanging open, Professor Rowan standing in the doorway, his arms folded but a smile curving his bushy moustache as he looked into the room, where Barry, Dawn and Lucas were being fawned over by their parents with a fervour that Johanna knew all too well. To the left, a man who she was fairly sure was Sir Lance Ryushi was curled up on a bed, arms around his head as he sweated and mumbled in his sleep. On another bed next to him was a man she didn't know, a very tall, dark-haired man who was likewise tossing, mumbling and sweating, horribly pale.

To the right was Silver, also pale but sitting up in bed, arguing about something with Blue's friend Sebastian. He looked around as Johanna stepped into the room, eyes fixed on Red at first before drifting nervously up to his stepmother.

"Silver," Johanna gasped, shifting Red into one arm so she could hug her other son with the other. "Oh, _Silver_ …"

"Hi, Jo," he mumbled quietly, hugging back and leaning his head against her shoulder. "I'm not totally sure if he's got memories, and bringing him back like that might've done some weird stuff to him, it did weird stuff to the Beasts, and anyway he's a baby now, he's gotta grow up again-"

"Silver," Johanna said, sitting down and putting a hand on his cheek, cutting off his babbling, " _thank you._ You brought him back down from the mountain." She leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. "Oh, honey, you're really warm," she exclaimed. "Normally you've got your temperature much more under control. Are you okay?"

Silver stared at her, then buried his face in his hands, but not before she caught the shimmer in his eyes that was nothing to do with Ho-oh. "Shut the fuck up, I'm fucking fine, can't believe you're making a fucking fuss about me when you just got _Red_ back from the fucking _dead_ ," he mumbled.

"Are you sure you're fucking fine, honey? You only swear like that when you're _really_ uncomfortable," Johanna said, putting an arm around his shoulders and unable to help a little giggle at the shocked look on Sebastian, the Hikaris and the Juns' faces at the gently-uttered swear. Saylee grinned and Blue and Byron both openly laughed.

Silver just leaned against her shoulder, keeping his face in his hands though he barked out a laugh.

"If I may?" a silver-haired young man said, standing up from where he'd been seated between Sir Lance and the tall man. Everybody else in the room looked at him suspiciously.

"Y'know, I've been meaning to ask… aren't you Steven Stone?" Barry's father asked. "The former Hoenn champion?"

"And you're the Frontier Brain Palmer Jun, yes?" Steven said with a smile. "Pleasure to meet you. I haven't had the chance to visit the Sinnoh Battle Frontier yet, but Anabel tells me it's quite impressive. Right now, however, I am here in my capacity as something of an expert in the issue of gods. Mrs Johanna Tougan," he continued, turning to Johanna with a bow, "firstly, I'd like to say that it's an honour to meet you. I'm a big fan of your work."

"Oh, thank, you," Johanna said, a little surprised to be so formally addressed. "My work… are you a contest fan?"

"I'm afraid not," Steven said, shaking his head with a smile. "I am in fact referring to your children. Saylee and Silver were both quite crucial to reality now continuing to exist, and for that I think we _all_ owe you our thanks. As for Red…"

"I thought you said even _you_ didn't know for sure what Silver resurrecting him would do to him," Saylee said with a sharpness to her tone that surprised Johanna.

"I don't _know_ , but I have been thinking about the Beasts and I have a few ideas," Steven said, spreading his hands placatingly. "The Beasts are certainly a curious phenomenon. Their souls have, basically, been removed from the cycle of life and death and tied to Ho-oh's. That renders them unable to die as long as Ho-oh lives, no matter how they are injured… they are also telepathically and empathically linked to Ho-oh. Silver, I know you feel the Beasts' emotions, and they can feel yours too, and you can exert your will over them as if they were simply extensions of yourself. Red appears a normal baby, but he may well also be both physically enhanced and his life tied to yours, but we can't know if that means that he will not die until Ho-oh's soul does—which may be impossible, now that Ho-oh has released its soul and power into a spirit form to bond to humans—or if he is simply tied to the mortal life of Silver Pryce. I also cannot speak as to the extent that his will is tied to yours. Humans have ever been more wilful creatures than Pokémon…"

"So… are you saying Silver might be able to… _control_ Red the way he can control the Beasts?" Saylee asked warily.

"I won't," Silver said immediately, looking at Johanna. "Even if I can, I won't. Not even gonna try. I try to ask the Beasts stuff instead of _making_ them these days, too, because it's kinda creepy to just be able to override their brains. I mean, they still obey, but… it's just creepy." He glowered at Steven.

"Believe me, I understand better than anybody else alive what you mean," Steven said with feeling.

"How exactly _are_ you involved in… all of this, Stone?" Professor Rowan asked, gesturing to Dawn, Lucas and Barry. " _Please_ tell me you're one of these avatars, because if you're secretly psychic I owe Ukon Spenser a good deal of money."

"You could say I _am_ an avatar, of a sort," Steven, putting his hands in his pockets and shrugging. "Suffice it to say that in this room are both gods and humans, and Red there is… something in between. For the time being, I think, he's just a baby, but I suspect Silver will know before anybody else if he's anything more…"

Silver's eyes flickered from Steven to Red, a worried expression crossing his face. "...I knew you were coming back up here," he said reluctantly, "like I could feel you coming. And right now… he's content, I think. A little more when he hears your voice. Or Saylee's. Or Blue's."

Before she could figure out how to respond to that, there was a yell from the far side of the room. They all looked around just in time to see the tall, dark-haired man convulse and vanish.

"Oh, _that's_ not good!" Saylee yelled, stepping towards the bed and then rounding on Steven. "Do you know where… _when_ he is?"

"No, I don't, but wherever he's displaced himself to, I don't think he'll be hurt," Steven said, holding up his hands. "I've met him later in his life, when he's more accustomed to his powers. He'll be fine, I promise, I'm just not sure when he'll reappear."

"Can we come up with something better than that?" Key said, stepping into the room. "I just finished calling Jenny, and she should be here in like an hour…"

{}

{}

 _Gonna try and NaNoWriMo a new draft of my fantasy novel this year. Anybody else gonna NaNo? Add me as a writing buddy if you use the website-username's same as usual! Also I downloaded the scrivener free trial for the first time this year and holy shit it's awesome. I wish I'd gotten this program sooner._

 _Team rosters are back even though basically no Pokemon are in this chapter… They'll be back soon, I promise, the fighting never ends :P_

 _ **SAYLEE**_

 _Fire Lord Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Ferne the Floatzel, Shanks the Gengar, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _ **KEY**_

 _Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade_

 _ **ARCHIE**_

 _Prince the Empoleon, Star the Luxray, Warin the Beautifly, Pegasus the Rapidash, Basil the Floatzel_

 _ **BLUE**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_


	70. Chapter 69

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 12_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 23_ _rd_ _, 8:23pm}_

 _{Eterna Hospital}_

"So this is where you went."

"Sssh," Steven whispered, pressing a finger to his lips and nodding at Dante, who was juggling multiple differently-coloured pokeballs for an overstuffed children's ward. Every child that was conscious had their eyes on the magician and grins on their faces. "I've been watching. He hasn't been using his powers for _anything_ , not for palming things, _nothing_. It's very impressive."

"The kids seem to be enjoying it," Riley agreed. "Steven.. Cynthia and I need to speak to you."

Steven sighed tiredly. "I know," he said, nodding and stepping away from the wall. "Where?"

"I'm genuinely curious-you can sense auras, can't you? Do you know where Cynthia is now?"

"I… _could_ know," Steven allowed. "I could know where _everyone_ is, but I try to avoid doing that unless, say, I'm looking for Galactic. It's a little invasive to do it to my friends or innocent people, you know?"

"I see," Riley said, nodding as he turned and led Steven down the hall. "Well, we're up on the roof. There aren't a lot of places to have a private conversation here, but I think we all need to talk."

"I know," Steven said quietly.

On the roof, Cynthia was talking quietly to Titania, who was perched on the safety fence. "...seem honest, though," the Togekiss was explaining. "They feel remorseful, but more than that, they feel truly afraid of Galactic's retribution."

"Thank you, Titania," Cynthia said, stroking her oldest Pokemon's head as she looked over at Steven and Riley. "Okay," she sighed, folding her arms and glaring at Steven through her long blonde fringe.

"This is not going to be the kind of conversation where I can crack a joke about you never actually _asking_ if I was Arceus, Creator of This World, is it?" Steven said weakly.

"Absolutely not," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "Steven, I understand why you keep it quiet, I really do. But… I thought we were _best friends_ , dammit. You gave Titania to me." She patted her Togekiss' crest. "You gave Luke to Riley. We talked _every day_ until you had your panic attack, broke up with us and left to be the Hoenn champion."

"That was because you're Arceus, right?" Riley asked quietly. "Were you scared of having to tell us?"

Steven nodded, folding his arms-not angrily, like Cynthia, but more like he was wrapping his arms around himself, shrinking down instead of drawing up. "I… never really thought that you wouldn't believe me," he said softly. "It's just that… the two of you are _human_. You've been together all your lives. And I'm not just intruding on your relationship-"

"You weren't _intruding_ , we literally used the word 'polyamorous' when we were talking about moving in together during university-" Riley began.

Steven held up a hand. "I'm intruding on your very _species_ ," he continued. "And… yeah, I got scared when I realized you were serious. I never wanted to have that kind of… _personal_ presence in anybody's lives. I wanted to do what I can to change this world for the better subtly, without… _getting involved._ And suddenly I have parents, and I love them, and I have _you_ , and I love you, not in the way that I care about _everything_ that's alive in this world but in this personal, _visceral_ way, like I _need_ you, and…" He gripped his chest. "I freaked out, yeah. I wanted to get out of your lives, where I wasn't supposed to be. I should've told you why, but…" He shook his head. "Emotions are so _wild_ on this level, you know?"

"We've noticed," Riley said, patting Steven on the shoulder. "You _should_ have told us, Steven. Isn't deciding things _for_ other people exactly what you were trying _not_ to do?"

"We _wanted_ you in our lives, Steven, and then you ran off and treated us like you didn't want anything to do with us," Cynthia snapped. "That _hurt_ , dammit, and we couldn't even stay with _each other_ like that. It didn't feel right, just the two of us. We always felt like something was missing. And… it was easier to be apart than to not be _all_ together. The whole damn point of a relationship is to decide on what we want in or out of our lives _together_ , Steven, and it's shitty to bail on people you love without any explanation for _any_ reason!"

"I know," Steven groaned, covering his face with his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm _so_ damn sorry. All I want is to try to make life better for people, and I always screw it up in the exact same way-by not _talking_ to people. And the whole of _reality_ nearly suffered for it." He dragged his hands off his face, looking from Cynthia to Riley. "That's what I've been trying to fix _now_ ," he said pleadingly. "If… if that's too late, I understand, but I have to _try_. But I don't know what to do."

"Good grief, Steven…" Cynthia sighed, walking over and hugging him. His eyes turned from pale green to pale blue as he hugged her back-it was subtle, but once you knew it was happening, noticeable. "Thank you for _finally_ talking to us, even if it is _absolutely_ years later than you should have. We _want_ to help you, not least because we live in this world too and would like to keep it. And…" She looked from Steven to Riley. "I don't know about you, but I've missed _us._ Nobody else has ever been quite the same."

"I've missed us too, but… I need to know how much of Steven really is _real_ for you," Riley said sternly. "How much do we really mean to you? You said that you love your parents. Is that true?"

"It is," Steven insisted, looking almost surprised. "Of course it is. I won't lie and say it wasn't unexpected…" He looked at his feet with a lost expression. "I expected to be grateful to them, but I also expected them to look… ephemeral. Temporary. When you're six billion years old, a mere ninety years or so barely happens, but…" He smiled wanly. "I suppose that's part of why I tried to do this, though. I didn't expect to see any four people out of eighty billion in all of time and space as irreplaceable, but there you go. It's like everything before _this_ life, as Steven, wasn't quite real, a dream that I've woken up from into a world so intense that it _hurts_. But… I've missed us too. And that hurts more than anything."

"Looks, the whole country's in chaos right now, we all have a lot of work to do and a lot has changed," Cynthia sighed. "But I think it'd be worth it, once things have settled down a little, for the three of us to get some dinner and just _talk_. Would it be worth it to you?"

"I think it would be worth trying again," Riley said, looking at Steven. "Do you?"

"…the problem I have with human languages is that they were developed to direct each other towards the ripe berries and away from the angry wild Pokemon," Steven said, eyes turning a warm, pale brown as he reached out to take their hands, "so believe me when I say that I don't have words for what you two mean to me. The best I can do is that you're the most real people I've known in six billion years."

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 9:23am}_

 _{Mt. Coronet}_

"Priestess. We have questions for you."

Carrie did not move from her meditative position or open her eyes as the Infernape approached. "What do you have to ask, Fire Lord?" she asked.

"Why are you still up here?" Caelin asked. "The portal has closed. There is nothing here now."

"The portal may have been closed, but the veil between this world and the next has been left thin, and it was thin here to begin with," Carrie explained, feeling the energy surging all around. Dead souls were hovering close, calling out. "This place will need careful tending. What species among you are best at handling the dead?"

"On Mt Coronet… perhaps the Bronzong?" Caelin mused. "This is not a grave mountain. We are not sure that anybody knows how to tend to the dead as you mention. Will you be able to teach us?"

"I can teach one, who can teach others, but I must return to my own clan soon," Carrie explained. "My home, Lavender, is very volatile. I would not leave at all were it not Saylee who was in need."

"You know Sar Kanto well, then?" Caelin asked haughtily.

"I knew her back when she was a girl called Saylee," Carrie replied placidly, "who did not walk away from injustice even when standing in place made her knees shake so hard she might fall over. When she avenged my mother and rescued my clan, she nearly crumbled under the loss of one of her Pokemon, and I knew that she could not be allowed to. Not somebody who could walk through the horrors of Lavender Tower when the rage of the spirits was overflowing and not only survive, but remain gentle at heart."

"She has taught us much about being strong for those under our command," Caelin allowed. "We cannot imagine her as a frightened child. We have never seen her show fear."

"The secret is not not having fear," Carrie said, wincing as one of the spirits whined at her insistently, in a way that scraped around the inside of her skull. "The secret is controlling it. Can you control your fear, Fire Lord?"

"What choice do we have but to do so?" Caelin said. "Are you speaking to spirits now?"

"I am attempting to calm them," Carrie said tersely, "but some are quite insistent. One wishes to speak to… Archie. Who is that?"

"That would be the criminal that Sar Kanto and Lady Weaves were pursuing," Caelin said darkly. "He is in Eterna now, I believe."

"What about him?"

Carrie opened her eyes for that, smiling at the sight of Blue walking up with his hands in his pockets. Mewtwo was not far away, staring at the spot where the spirits were clustering, unseen to most eyes. "Hello, Blue," she said. "Hello, Mewtwo."

" _Hello, Carrie_ ," Mewtwo said, sitting down next to her. " _May I help_?"

"Start by closing your mind and calming it," Carrie directed. "You must be completely tranquil before I can teach you anything about spirits." Mewtwo closed their eyes, meditating calmly next to Carrie, which was a significant improvement over his last interaction with unhappy spirits.

"'Sup, Carrie… hey, your lordiness," Blue said, waving. "You were saying something about Archie?"

"There is a spirit here who most insistently wants to speak to him," Carrie said, frowning. "He is quite powerful. A Shanks?"

"Shanks?" Caelin said, looking around. "He travelled with us briefly as a Gengar. What does he wish to say?"

"Yeah… Shanks, hate to break it to you, but Archie's probably not leaving Eterna except in handcuffs," Blue said, also looking around, but more uneasily. "There are _so_ many people in that hospital who can't really ignore him now that Galactic unmaking reality isn't a more pressing issue. But if he gives me the message…"

Carrie relaxed, letting Shanks in. Doing this was dangerous, but if Saylee had been willing to travel with Shanks, he was likely not the sort to steal possession for long. "Looks, the kid's gotta do what he's gotta do ta make things right, and I'm prouda him fer that," Shanks said, the words feeling strange in Carrie's mouth. "I'm sure his folks would be too-ain't been able ta find 'em. Whiscash remembered meetin' Adrian, though, and said he went on with Kelsie's spirit a while ago. But I knew Adrian well, and trust me, he'd be prouda Archie fer tryin' ta make things right with what he did, okay? He ain't disappointin' Adrian if he's doin' his best ta do right. And I'm sorry I can't help him more with it, but I gotta go. I can't keep hangin' around like this. I don't wanna leave 'im, but it's just… it's what I gotta do now. Hard ta explain. Just… tell 'im, okay? Oh, an' talk ta Kendrick, Juan's Kingdra, an' tell 'im I told 'im ta get filleted, okay?"

"You're proud of Archie, his dead parents are proud of Archie, do the right thing you asshole, tell Juan's Kingdra to go die," Blue ticked off on his fingers. "I think I've got all that."

"Thanks, Spikes," Shanks said. "Yer good people. Specs an' Bubbles are too. I think the kid's gonna be alright if he's got good people holdin' him ta account…"

The feeling faded and Carrie almost sighed with relief at the most insistent spirit fading. "You okay?" Blue asked, sitting down next to her.

"I'm fine," Carrie said, nodding. "It's best I don't do that anymore today, but there's nobody as insistent as him trying to speak to this world."

"Can you summon other dead spirits to speak to them?" Caelin asked curiously.

" _Inviting_ spirits back into this world is dangerous and exhausting, so basically, no," Carrie said, shaking her head. "Sorry, but if you have anybody to talk to, it isn't happening."

"I… We think we were able to say what we needed to," Caelin said, touching the flower that she was wearing.

"I spoke to Pedro too," Carrie added, smiling gently. "It was nice to hear his voice again."

"I guess you're gonna be busy up here for a while, huh?" Blue said, turning to Caelin. "Saylee needs a team. I'm guessing you're busy too, but where's everybody else?"

"Tobias and Mary will be happy to go with you, I'm sure," Carrie said, closing her eyes again.

"What does Sar Kanto need a team for? Galactic is defeated," Caelin asked. Carrie could _hear_ the deep-etched frown in the Infernape's voice.

"One, there is _always_ somebody who needs Saylee to kick their ass," Blue said, "and two, not _all_ of Galactic got got. One of them's a member of the Pokemon League and, thanks to us putting in a good word for the Trents with Cynthia and putting them in contact, now we know who for certain. Cynthia asked us to go arrest him-the Sinnoh League's stretched a bit thin just now and I guess she figures anybody from Sinnoh'd be emotionally compromised or something if they went to arrest his ass. Shame you can't come, Carrie, apparently electricity's his thing."

"Of our retinue, for the time being we wish to keep Sal and Zoe close, for we trust them best," Caelin commented, "but Elsa may wish to join this excursion, and is free to do so. Will Lady Key also be needing her team?"

"Probably," Blue said. "C'mon, your lordship, show us where they're at. Let's leave Carrie to… whatever she's doing, it's probably important. Good to see you, Carrie."

"You too, Blue," Carrie said, smiling and nodding at him. "Good luck."

"Could always do with some of that," Blue said. "What's with the look, princess?"

"We are _Fire Lord_ now, human, and you will address us with more respect."

"Don't take it personally, but I well and truly will not…"

"Blue," Carrie called as she heard the human walking away. "One more thing..."

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 10:15am}_

 _{Mt. Coronet}_

"Saylee, you just got back _yesterday_ ," Johanna said, bouncing Red gently in her arms as she watched her daughter carefully tie her scarf over the bandages around her neck. "Are you sure you're ready to go getting into more fights?"

"I don't have much choice, Mum, there aren't many people Cynthia can ask," Saylee sighed. Her mother hadn't been particularly willing to let any of her kids out of her sight since she'd arrived at the hospital the previous day, which Saylee didn't particularly blame her for, all things considered. It meant she'd also sat in on the private meeting that Cynthia had requested with Saylee, Key and Blue, concerning the fact that she knew which member of the Sinnoh League was in Galactic.

" _Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't turn up at Coronet-I thought I'd be able to deal with him there,_ " Cynthia had explained. " _But he didn't, and now that Galactic at large has been dealt with, we have to bring him in as soon as possible, before he bolts… or tries to take some kind of retribution. The problem is, he's good enough to be in the Elite Four. He turned down the position, but still, he's extremely dangerous and there are few trainers I'd trust to be capable of dealing with him. Officially, the Elites are helping track down and arrest Galactics on Mt Coronet, which means that he won't be expecting anybody to come after him, so if somebody of Champion caliber that he doesn't recognize goes after him, they might be able to get too close for him to escape…"_

"Besides, the goal is to be able to get close enough to this guy to arrest him without it coming to a fight," Saylee added, buttoning up her coat.

"Saylee, honey, I love you, but I would not put money on you being able to get through _any_ situation without it coming to a fight," Johanna sighed.

Saylee put her hand to her chest with a expression of utter agony. "My own _mother_ ," she gasped. "...Okay, but really, Mum, we'll be fine. We've handled way worse than this guy in the last week-hell, in the last _day_ -and we _do_ have to get all the extant members of Galactic behind bars as soon as possible."

"Hey, Lee, is your husband back with our Pokemon yet?" Key asked, sticking her head around the door. "Hey, Jo. Heyyyyyy, little guy." She waggled her fingers with a grin at Red, then looked over at Silver, who was still fast asleep, now the only patient in the room as of Clair arriving in the early hours of the morning to transfer Lance to Blackthorn Hospital. "Hey Silver," Key whispered, then looked back up at Saylee. "There's kind of another situation."

"Another one?" Saylee said tiredly. "What now?"

"Okay, so Pluto got spotted," Key explained. "Problem is, all the Elites are still tracking missing Galactic admins and Cynthia's got twelve million and seven things to do with Coronet, so Jenny, Seka and I are gonna go after him instead of going with you and Blue to Sunyshore."

"Pluto? Good luck," Saylee said fervently. "Where was he spotted?"

"Veilstone," Key said, making a face. "Not looking forward to going back to that base, but we have _got_ to kick that guy's ass ASAP."

"Honey, you haven't even _left_ yet and this is already going sideways," Johanna pointed out.

"It always does," Saylee sighed, giving her mother a hug. "Blue and I have _got_ this, Mum."

"Don't worry, Mrs T, she _does_ always got this," Key said reassuringly.

"And to answer your question, no, Blue isn't back yet, but he should be coming right to the entrance of the hospital," Saylee said, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "C'mon, let's go out to the front to wait for him."

The hospital was still busy, but starting to slow down a little as the less-injured were sent home or shipped out to smaller clinics and the more severely injured were settled in. They were more easily able to make their way back to the entranceway, where Jenny, Seka and Blue were waiting for them.

"You're back!" Saylee said, running to meet Blue. "Who'd you bring?"

"Hold on," Blue said, grabbing her and hugging her tight. "Talked to Carrie about some stuff."

"What stuff?" Saylee said quietly, hugging him back.

"Gotta talk to Archie and let him know Shanks isn't coming back through," Blue sighed, "but before that-she got a last word in with Pedro. He said keep it up, and, uh… he spoke to the others. Everyone he could who came through and fought alongside you or Chaz. Wanted to know what they died for and if they thought it was worth it."

Saylee's eyes burned. _Just yesterday, I got to speak to him again, and then we were dragged out without getting to say goodbye…_ "And?"

"Hasn't heard a no yet, so keep it up, he said," Blue said, his voice thick. "Anyway…" He gave her another squeeze before stepping back and beginning to pull pokeballs out of his pocket. "Caelin's keeping her people close while she settles into her power. There's Chaz, Toby, Mary, Skye, Nadia and Elsa. Also grabbed Eric and Perun, but I think they'll want to stay close to Red-Eric pretty much tackled me and demanded to know why he could sense Red again." He passed those two pokeballs to Johanna, who took them with a gentle smile and a nod of thanks. "Oh, Key, here," he added, passing over more pokeballs. "Let's see-Thomas, Manami, Topaz, Ephraim, Raiden…"

"Thanks," Key said gratefully, taking the pokeballs. "Guess we're about ready to go."

"See you later," Saylee promised, hugging her mother and Red one last time.

"Look after each other," Johanna said, giving Saylee and Blue each a kiss on the cheek. "You girls look after each other too!" she added to Key, Seka and Jenny.

"Yes, ma'am," Jenny said, saluting as they walked outside so Saylee released Chaz.

"So, where are we going, anyway?" Chaz asked, stretching his wings as Saylee and Blue climbed onto his back.

"First stop, police station," Blue said, wrapping his arms around Saylee's waist as she strapped into Chaz' flight harness, which was only really made for one. "I've got a message to drop off with Archie."

"Then w head east," Saylee said, stretching to scratch Chaz behind the ears. "We've got a Gym Leader to arrest."

{}

{}

 _How's NaNoWriMo going for y'all? It is going RIDICULOUSLY well for me. I'm well above par AND I'm getting nuzfic written? What is this?!_

 _So obviously ingame I did not have my FireRed, SoulSilver and Emerald team, but between Coronet and the end of the game the only other Pokemon I lost was Shanks, during the Champion battle with Cynthia. In the story I constructed, I realized that it was unlikely that Caelin, once she'd finally taken her throne, would be leaving it to continue travelling around the country. Most of the rest of the fic is gonna have events wildly out of order compared to events in the game, and if that's not your jam… I'm amazed you're still here, honestly :P None of the characters are doing a League run, but all four members of the Elite Four ARE going to appear and get some kind of fight. By the same token, Key didn't lose any more Pokemon until the end of the game, but for plot reasons we're changing her team up a bit anyway._

 _RIP Shanks the Gengar, level 17-62_

 _ **Saylee:**_

 _Chaz the Charizard, Tobias the Togekiss, Mary the Ampharos, Skye the Altaria, Nadia the Camerupt, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Elsa the Glaceon, Ferne the Floatzel)_

 _ **Blue:**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **Key:**_

 _Thomas the Grovyle, Topaz the Flygon, Manami the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Manami the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade)_

 _ **Jenny:**_

 _Sarah-Jane the Staraptor, Jack the Jolteon, Mickey the Manectric, Rose the Gardevoir, Craig the Castform, Sophie the Delcatty_

 _ **Seka:**_

 _Edge the Zangoose, Talyn the Mightyena, Ardenol the Weavile_


	71. Chapter 70

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 13_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 10:30am}_

 _{Eterna Police Station}_

 _Is this some kind of interrogation tactic?_ Archie wondered, looking around the room for the dozenth time, even though he already knew there were no clocks to check. He'd been led into what was obviously an interrogation room and then left for what felt like an hour. _Did nobody tell them that I gave myself up?_

Cynthia, Key and Blue had brought him to the police station late at night, half secure escort, half moral support. The overworked Eterna police had been startled, to say the least, to have their Champion turn up with an internationally wanted terrorist on top of the mass of Galactic members being brought down from Mt Coronet. He'd been ushered away to be processed in a rush, without time for much more than a clap on the back from Blue and a brief assurance from Key that he was doing the right thing and that she'd be one of the people responsible for taking him and his Pokemon back to Hoenn.

 _Maybe they're out of cell space and are shoving me here because I haven't been giving them trouble,_ he figured. _Or maybe some of the officers here had friends or family in Hoenn and this room's easier to clean blood out of than the cells…_

He tensed as the door opened, only able to stare in surprise as Blue and Saylee walked in. "Wait, they didn't wash that ugly dye out of your hair yet?" Blue asked as a greeting. "Is that a violation of your civil rights?"

"Only if they give him more hair dye," Saylee said, checking her pokegear. "I would apologize for you getting arrested so abruptly, but you knew this was always the plan as soon as we broke Galactic's chokehold on the police, right?"

"You made that pretty clear," Archie assured her. "Anyway, after everything that's gone down lately, it's kind of relaxing to have everything so completely out of my hands in a good way. I'm comfortable with having 'property of the Hoenn government' stamped on my ass for the rest of my natural-born life, because I can't begin to imagine myself how to make up for what I caused in Hoenn."

"We're not at liberty to tell you what's being discussed in regards to your ass," Saylee said, shaking her head. "You'll be informed when some solid decisions are made. I'm sure you can appreciate that the Sinnoh Police have a lot on their hands just now."

"You're not resisting charges, though, right?" Blue asked.

"No," Archie said, shaking his head. "I'm guilty. I can't keep telling myself that I'm not responsible for what happened with Groudon and Kyogre just because it's not what I intended. Cyrus didn't cause half as much devastation as I did and he _intended_ to do worse, and the thing that keeps preying on my mind is that I think, to the end, he really, truly thought what he was doing was for the best." He sighed. "Truthfully, seeing how wildly off-base what somebody does compared to what they _think_ they're doing can be, I don't really trust myself to decide what to do next. I'm happy to sit in a courtroom and let a jury tell me what the right thing to do next is, even if it's rot in a prison cell for the rest of my days because it'll make my victims feel safer."

"Well, if Cyrus is your bar for being a non-toxic human being, I have good news for you," Blue said, giving him a thumbs-up.

"I'm glad," Saylee said with a nod, "because I've got too much work to do without having to chase you down again. In fact, that's what we're on our way to just now, but first…" She sighed, folding her arms. "We stopped by to tell you that Shank's stayed in the Reverse."

Archie slumped over the sudden heaviness in his gut. "I see," he said softly. "I mean… I'd expected it, but…"

"He also wanted us to tell you to get your ass in gear and do the right thing, which you're doing, so that's great," Blue said with a shrug. "He said he went looking for your dad, but didn't find him, and he and your mum probably went on already, but that they'd believe in you doing the right thing and they'd be proud of you for doing it, too."

Archie covered his face with his hands. "Thank you," he mumbled. "Thanks for telling me. I…"

"We'd better get going," Saylee said, checking the tie, "but for what it's worth… you really are doing the right thing. Thank you for that."

Archie just nodded, not looking up as the door clicked shut and he was alone again.

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 10:35am}_

 _{Eterna Police Station}_

"Thank you," Saylee said, nodding to the officer on the door as she and Blue stepped out of the interrogation room. The officer locked the door and hurried off down the hallway. The whole station was buzzing, nearly every police station around Mt Coronet filled to capacity with Galactic Corp members under arrest. "He was such a self-righteous asshole when I first met him at the Oceanic Museum," she mused. "That was… a little over half a year ago. Damn, this has been a busy year."

"There's still a week left in it," Blue assured her. "Still time to cram in a third near-apocalypse, if you're up for it."

"Please don't," Saylee groaned. "Let's not tempt fate, _please_."

"How odd to hear a Kanton accent all the way up here. Could that be the famed Saylee Pryce?"

Saylee and Blue both turned in surprise to the tall man with long, wavy purple hair who had been standing down the hall from them, his fingers skimming over the pages of a book. He snapped the book shut and adjusted his purple-tinted glasses as he strode towards them.

"I am," Saylee affirmed, "and this is Blue Oak. And you are…?"

"Lucian Kyo," the man said, pulling a card from a pocket in his impeccable maroon suit and holding it out for her to take, which she did. Scanning the card, she discovered that he was an Elite of Sinnoh, one of the four highly skilled trainers who served as Cynthia's council in the governance of Sinnoh as well as being the frontline against its most dangerous criminals. "I thought to read to pass the time while waiting for the arrested Galactic members to be ready for questioning, but finally meeting _you_ seems a far more entertaining diversion. I have heard a great deal about both of you from my uncle, cousins and brother."

"Kyo… you're… Will's brother?" Saylee realized. "I didn't know he had a brother."

"In all fairness, neither did he until some time after you returned Kanto to the world," Lucian said with a shrug. "He was a baby, anyway, when my mother brought me to Sinnoh for specialist medical help that could not be found in Kanto." He tapped his tinted glasses briefly. "We had either the best or worst timing, depending on your view of the matter, because though my mother intended to leave me with her in-laws and return to the war immediately, she was unable to return to Kanto. The whole trip could be called unnecessary, anyway. My eyes may be beyond repair, but I have little need for mundane sight anyway."

"Because you're a psychic like your brother?" Blue guessed.

"Precisely," Lucian said with a nod. "Hence why I am responsible for interrogations. My mother would love to meet you both, I've no doubt. She is also quite busy currently, as naturally she is a trainer of rank herself and is aiding the rangers, but having given up her whole family aside from me for dead, she was quite delighted to to find her younger son, her nieces and one of her brothers still living. I am sure she would personally like to shake your hand." He held one of his own hands out for her to shake.

"I'd be happy to meet her too," Saylee said, shaking his hand. "We've all got work to do right now, of course, but maybe after the Galactic business is settled?"

"Maybe," Lucian said, his grip suddenly turning crushing. "Uncle Koga, Will and Janine may be impressed with you, _Sar_ Pryce," he said lowly, "but _I_ believe that blood tells. Your mother may have married into an elite family, but you and your brother are still the children of war criminals."

"I'm not Giovanni, and nor is Silver," Saylee said tightly. "If you want to take my measure for yourself, I'll take you on _later_ , when I don't have more important things to deal with than you and your suspicions."

"Ah, yes… the arrest of Volkner Denzi," Lucian said, letting go and stepping back with a placid smile. "As I said… blood tells. Good luck, Sar Kanto… Mr Oak." He nodded to them, turning around just before a door down the hall opened.

"Mr Kyo? We're ready for you now," a police officer called, poking her head out into the hall.

"I know," Lucian said, walking past her into the interrogation room and closing the door behind him.

"Hey, _Mr_ _Kyo_ , can your _non_ -mundane sight see this alright?" Blue grumbled, flipping off the closed door. "I can't believe that guy is actually creepier than his brother." He looked at Saylee, reaching out to hold her hand, which she was rubbing absentmindedly while glaring after Lucian. "You okay? Who won?"

"Doesn't matter… _blood tells_ ," Saylee grumbled. "What a pretentious piece of…"

"He wears a pink suit, it's not like he didn't forewarn us that he's a dick before he even opened his mouth," Blue said, putting an arm around her shoulders and steering her out of the police station. "C'mon, let's go arrest that Volkner tool before he starts that third apocalypse."

Once outside, Saylee released Chaz, who yawned and stretched his wings in the dawn light. "Haven't spent this much time in a pokeball in a while," he mused. "I forgot what a good, weird nap it gives you. So, where are we headed now?"

"East," Saylee said, climbing onto his back and helping Blue up behind her. "Sunyshore City's on the far east of Sinnoh. When we get there, Nadia and Girish'll probably handle most of the fighting if it comes to that, but hopefully not."

"Got it," Chaz said, spreading his wings and taking them into the air. Saylee shivered in the sudden rush of cold wind and hunkered against Chaz' hot back, remembering how his heat had felt in the Reverse, like a living aura curling around her and protecting her. _Did it feel that way because I was in the form of a Charmander, or because we were in spirit form, and that's how his spirit feels?_

"Hey, Chaz?" she asked, leaning up his neck to be closer to his ears so he could hear her better. "How are you doing with… well, the Reverse was complicated, y'know? Especially seeing Pedro and Eliza…"

"I'm glad I got to see them again sooner than I expected to, and without having to actually die," Chaz mused, his voice rumbling through his chest, as much felt as heard as they flew. "I wish I could have seen some others… Cal, Wilma, Miranda, among others… but if they're already enough at peace to have gone further, that's good to know."

"Pedro said he talked to everybody he could catch who came through that knew either of us," Saylee said, "because he wanted to know how we were doing… and if whatever we were up to was worth it. General consensus seems to be yes. He said he wasn't going anywhere without you, by the way."

Chaz looked around, eyes widening. "That… tailfeather," he muttered, looking away again, though he was smiling vaguely. "He… _does_ know that could be a long damn wait, right? Professor Oak told me that Charizard can live a _very_ long time. We're not exactly dragons, officially, something like that, but I could make it over a century."

"Damn, Chaz, you're gonna outlive us," Blue whistled. "I mean, that's not exactly an achievement, but…"

"Hush and keep an eye out for the most solar panels you've ever seen in one place in your life," Saylee said, elbowing him.

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 10:30am}_

 _{Veilstone City}_

"So, where's this runaway Plasma fool?" Seka said, opening her databag, punching in her access code and immediately pulling out her shovel as soon as they stepped out of the travel centre.

"We're here to bring him to the police, not _bury_ him," Key pointed out. "He was seen in the Veilstone building, but the problem is that the police are having a hard time sweeping it because he's randomly reset all the portpads, and just punching down the walls could bring the building down. Most police officers aren't trainers capable of handling a Plasma Executive alone, or even in a group. That's where we come in. The police surrounding the building will stop anybody going in or out, we just need to corner him and kick his ass."

"Can I… meet you guys there?" Jenny said, folding her arms and chewing her lip. "I just want to check in on my aunt and my cousins real quick… they just escaped Plasma captivity. I know they're free, I just want to see it for myself, y'know? I'll catch up in no time."

"Hell, it'll only take a minute to look in on them-we can all go, right?" Seka suggested.

"Why not?" Key agreed. "And hey," she added, squeezing Jenny's arm, "your dad'll turn up soon, I'm sure. Saylee said he's got time-travel powers. He might've turned up already, for all we know!"

"That would be so like him," Jenny laughed shakily. "Okay. Well, they don't live far away, actually…"

Veilstone had become an odd, unsettling city to walk around. The pleasant, paved streets were splattered with cones and barriers, the bright colours clashing with the muted tones to warn people where the street was no longer there, or where part of a building had fallen. Some buildings were collapsing in on improbable holes that had formed in their centres, turning them into black holes of brick and mortar. Jenny breathed a visible sigh of relief when they turned onto an avenue just a couple of streets from the travel centre and saw a row of clean, uninterrupted brownstones. She led them up to one with a dark blue door and rang the doorbell, which sang a brief, chirpy tune to them. She bounced on her feet nervously while they waited for the door to be answered, trying to peer in through the ground-floor window, but the brightly patterned curtains were drawn tightly shut.

"Jenny. Jen. Jenners. Jenjamin. _Calm down_ ," Seka said. "They're probably nervous after having been, y'know, kidnapped and all. Soon as they look through the peephole and see you-ta-daa!" she sang at the sound of locks unclicking.

The door was opened by a short, round-faced woman with short brown hair, big glasses and an even bigger smile. "Jenny!" she said happily, leaning over to hug her. "It's so good to see you! How're you doing?"

"I'm fine-how're _you_? How're Bas and Juju?" Jenny asked, hugging her aunt tightly. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"Nothing more than bumps and bruises," her aunt promised, briefly rubbing her darkly bruised wrists. "Basil and Jumana are a bit shaken up-we found a wonderful video-call therapist, though, and they wanted to talk to her together, but I'm sure they'll come down to say hello when they're done. Oh, who're your friends?" she added, appearing to notice Key and Seka for the first time. "Maggie Hawkshaw, at your service!" she announced, throwing them a bouncy salute and a grin.

"Key Weaves, nice to meet you," Key laughed, saluting her right back.

"Seka," Seka said, mimicking the salute with her shovel. "We were just in the area and thought we'd check in on you folks."

"Oh, is that so? Well, that explains it," Maggie said, tilting her head thoughtfully. "Oh, where are my manners, come on inside, sit down a minute!"

"We really can't stay for long-" Key began.

"Explains what?" Jenny interrupted with a confused frown, following her aunt into the front hall. It was messy, in a lived-in way rather than a grotty way, various-sized shoes in a jumble around a slightly askew shoe rack, a skateboard jammed into the umbrella stand along with a few actual umbrellas, framed photographs cramming the walls without any apparent chronological order. Key recognized a younger Jenny in one, building a sandcastle with a small boy and a toddler who was trying to eat a small grey shell.

"Well, it's just that your father didn't mention that you were coming," Maggie said, nodding towards an open doorway, through which they could glimpse the back of a couch and a corner shelf covered with a mix of tacky souvenirs and children's handicrafts.

"My- _DAD!_ " Jenny yelled, running into the room and standing stock-still, staring at the tall man who was stretched out in a fat green armchair, clutching a steaming mug.

"Jenny! When did you come to Sinnoh?" Agent Looker asked, sitting up in surprise.

"When did I-where did you _go_?!" Jenny exploded. "Key called me to tell me to come to Eterna Hospital because you were sick or something, then when I got there I was told you _vanished_ because you're a freaking _god of time_ now-"

"Ah, yes, for me it has been several months since I was in Eterna Hospital, but thanks to Richie and Maggie's most dependable kitchen calendar, I have learned that I returned less than a day after I disappeared!" Looker said, setting aside his mug and standing up. "This is quite difficult, because time is very large, but I have learned many interesting things about this from many interesting people, including, most strangely, myself!"

"What?! I don't care!" Jenny yelled, throwing up her hands. "First you run off to Sinnoh before you've really recovered from what happened in Hoenn, then you're in hospital _again,_ then you're _gone_ -"

"I am sorry to have frightened you so, Jenny," Looker said gently, holding out his arms. "I should not cause you so much worry, not so little time after losing your mother…"

"Damn right you shouldn't," Jenny said, hugging him and burying her face in his shoulder in a poor attempt to hide that she was starting to cry.

"Hey, Key?" Seka whispered. "I know I got to the hospital a bit after Jenny did, so I feel I need to ask, what the _fuck_?"

"I'll explain while we're searching-nice to see you, Agent Looker, glad to see you're okay, but we've gotta go," Key said, waving. "Jenny, seriously, Seka and I can handle this guy if you want to stay and catch up with your family."

"Which guy is this?" Looker asked with a frown, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket as he and Jenny stepped apart and wiping his daughter's tears. It was the first time that Key had ever seen the man without a trenchcoat, and the ugly green waistcoat and pants that he'd somehow gotten into his head to pair with a _pink_ shirt and red tie probably served as an explanation for _why_ he was always wearing a long coat.

"We're just helping mop up Galactic, Dad," Jenny said, taking the handkerchief to wipe her tears herself. "You just got back, you don't need to get involved…"

"My dear Jenny! Can you have forgotten me so soon?" Looker gasped, clapping a hand to his cheek in exaggerated shock. "If there are Galactics who are not yet inside of a prison cell, it is the duty of police officers such as you and I to fix this problem, is it not?"

"I haven't started at the police academy yet, Dad," Jenny pointed out.

"Jenny, you've been a police officer since you were old enough to other kids they were going to sandbox jail for stealing toys," Maggie said, putting her hands on her hips. "So, are you girls staying for coffee, or is it time for you all to go rushing off? Oh, what am I saying, I married a Hawkshaw, I know how this is going. I have some cans of lemonade in the fridge if you want something to pep you up while you're rushing, though!"

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 11:30am}_

 _{Eterna Police Station}_

Thanks to a major spatial distortion that had opened up in the hospital gardens, they were closed off, with bright warning barricades blocking all the entrances to the garden through the hedges. Silver snuck in anyway, craving some empty space in the overcrowded hospital where he could be alone with his thoughts, and the thoughts of those that shared his mind.

He could feel the Beasts prowling: Entei keeping watch over the hotel in Canalave; Raikou watching over Byron's gym, the Orrens hiding out there with few other Pokemon still around to protect them while the rest were on Mt Coronet; Suicune much farther east, following Saylee and Blue as they sought out the Leader who had betrayed Sinnoh to Galactic. He could also feel Red, sleeping and dreaming contended baby-dreams of warm arms and soft, familiar voices. It was unnerving to think what he might have _done_ to his half-brother that even Steven didn't know about, to wonder whether or not the boy was really human or something else, but Saylee and Johanna's relief and happiness made it hard to regret.

 _And… it might be kinda cool to be a_ big _brother_ , he admitted to himself. _Instead of worrying about some dead guy, it might be kinda cool to get to know him now..._

He spotted a gap in the hedges framing the path ahead of him and headed towards it, hoping it was a bench. Loathe though he was to admit it, even the walk down the garden had worn him out, and travelling even a short way into the garden had left him exhausted.

He stopped short at the sight of his mother sitting on the bench.

She stood up, dusting off her long black coat, and smiled at him. It was a _weird_ smile, brighter than the cold smirks that he was used to, but no kinder.

"There you are! You're Ari's boy, right?" she said, clasping her hands and peering at him. "You look _just_ like her, you know." She unclasped her hands and snapped her fingers. Something big and heavy hit Silver in the small of the back and tackled him to the ground, holding him there by sheer weight, the application of a set of claws to the back of his neck, and Silver's own overwhelming shock.

"Wh-what are you doing here?!" he sputtered, head spinning. "How did you get out of prison?!"

"Prison, huh? Is _thaaat_ where my big sis is these days?" the woman said, walking over to Silver and crouching in front of him, tipping his head back with a finger under his chin. "I don't expect you remember your Auntie Marianne, do you? You were just a baby when I got out of Kanto, after all. Guess your old man figured I'd be good to trust to infiltrate Sinnoh's crime circles for Rocket because of family loyalty or some shit. Hah!" She dropped Silver's chin, standing up. "I figure you know as well as I do that _Ariana's_ hardly worth returning to _that_ hellhole for."

 _My aunt…_? Silver thought in confusion. _Mum never mentioned… well, guess she wouldn't._ "You're one of those Galactic commanders now, right?" he choked out as the claws on the back of his neck tightened. He felt the Beasts' concern at his spike of panic and quickly sent to them a feeling of calm, asking Suicune and Raikou to stick to their guarding tasks and Entei to search the area around the hospital for any other Galactic members. _If Galactic's in the area, don't wanna leave the gym or the hospital unprotected… I can protect myself! I can shoot goddamn_ fireballs! _Just have to calm down and focus. Gotta calm down… she's not_ her. _I don't have to be scared of her. Just gotta focus on_ fire…

"That's _right_! I am the Galactic Commander Mars!" his aunt, supposedly, sang. "So, as you've probably guessed, I'm taking a little revenge trek since I heard most of my targets were in or around this hospital. I mean, I really should've just killed you in your sleep, but there's something I just don't get. You grew up in Kanto too, after all. But you still _interfered_ with Cyrus' plan to fix the world? What's _wrong_ with you?"

"What's wrong with _me_?!" Silver said incredulously. "What's wrong with _you_? Were you seriously twisted enough to think that your murderous boss was gonna _fix_ anything?" He felt whatever was sitting on his back shift nervously, withdrawing its claws and pacing back and forth as Silver's body temperature spiked. "Look, you might not get this if you're anything like—like your sister, but most people have these things called healthy relationships? Like, without slapping or manipulating or attacking with Pokémon or anything. They're _really_ fucking sappy, but they're actually pretty awesome too. You should try one sometime."

"Mars, there's something wrong with this kid!" the Pokémon on his back yelped, hopping off. "He doesn't smell human, and it's like he's on _fire_!"

Silver stood up, noticing that the Pokémon that had been pinning him was a fat, grey-and-white feline—a Purugly. Silver spat a small fireball at it just to watch it shriek as it was bowled over backwards.

Mars went white, her eyes widening. "Ohhhh… you're one of _those_ kids, right?" she said, releasing a large Golbat and Bronzong. "Wow, who are _you_ to tell _me_ about normal people?"

"I think that says rather a lot more about you than him, young lady. And I think it's rather notable that, while both of you fled Rocket, he did _not_ choose to return to a life of crime."

Mars scowled at the elderly couple that came around the hedge arm-in-arm, the old man smiling and waving at Silver while the lady scowled ferociously at Mars. "Back off, old-timer," the Galactic Commander snapped, "before I have to hurt you."

The old man stroked his moustache in an expression of dignified exasperation as the lady's glare shifted abruptly into a falsely sweet smile. "Oh, dear, are you going to attack me?" she asked, tapping her foot on the ground as she withdrew a pokéball from her handbag. "What _ever_ shall I do?"

"Curl up and die, you old hag!" Mars yelled, snapping her fingers at her Golbat and Purugly and pointing at the elderly couple. They lunged as the Bronzong began charging up psychic energy, aiming at Silver.

The ground in front of the elderly couple cracked and split as a huge black Hippowdon burst from the earth, throwing rocks up into the air that struck down the Golbat while it chomped down on the Purugly. "Rhian, Geri," the old lady said sweetly, releasing a Rhyperior and a Golem, "help Hermina out with these ruffians, will you? Make sure everybody except Silver stays _down._ "

Mars and her Pokémon screamed as their new opponents charged.

Silver sidled around the carnage. "Hey, Jules," he said to the old man. "Didn't expect to see you guys here."

"Well, after everything that happened and everything settled down a bit, we wanted to see that our Ronnie's family was alright," Jules chuckled, slapping Silver on the back. "Surprised as hell but pleased as punch to see our new grandson! Jo and Ronnie were just explaining things to us when the boy woke up from a dead sleep and started screaming his lungs out, and when we figured out that it couldn't be for any of the usual baby reasons, Jo said maybe you were in trouble. Well, of course, soon as we heard that, Bertha charged right off to see to it that you were alright! Looks like we got here at just the right time, too!" He smiled at Mars, who was screaming up a storm as Rhian hefted her under one arm while Geri and Hermina piled up the unconscious Golbat, Purugly and Bronzong. "I think she's enjoying herself. She's been wanting to have a go at these ridiculous Galactic people for a while."

"Don't be silly, Julian, it's my _job_ to see to the arrests of terrorists like these people," Bertha said, prodding Mars. "Any personal satisfaction is _entirely_ incidental. Now… Marianne Athene, I believe your presumably false passport says? I must thank you for bringing yourself to me and making my job so easy. I'm afraid my hip's acting up and the doctors are rather busy, so it _is_ nice not to have to chase you."

"You'll pay for this, you cheating old-!" Mars snarled. Rhian, with astonishing gentleness for an eight-foot-tall bipedal rock, put a huge grey finger over the woman's mouth, cutting off her raging.

"These people are so rude," Geri huffed, nudging the unconscious Purugly with one foot. "Hullo, Silver. Are you alright?"

"Fine," Silver sighed, sitting down heavily on the bench. "Had a frickin' heart attack for a minute when I saw her, but I'm good."

"Do you have anything you want to say to her before we carry her off to the police?" Bertha asked, brushing some dirt off of Silver's shoulders. "I know you have the normal body temperature of a forest fire, dear, but you really ought to wrap up warmer before going out at this time of year."

"I'm _fine_ ," Silver insisted. "Why do I need to say anything to her? I don't know her, except that she's a murderous bitch who's killed a bunch of Pokemon and also thought attacking a sick teenager sounds like a fun time. So, basically, exactly like her sister. You think we could send her to Johto so they could get a cell together? I think she'd _hate_ that." Mars gave a muffled scream of fury.

"We'll see what we can do," Bertha said with a smile. "I'll see you later, dear. Come along, ladies, let's get to the police station!"

"Care to give me a hand, Silver?" Jules said, holding out a hand as Bertha and her Pokemon walked away with their prisoners. "I'm old, y'know, all this running around has me wiped. Think you could help me back into the hospital?"

"...Well, I guess if _you_ need help," Silver said with exaggerated reluctance as he took the hand to pull himself up and let himself lean on his adoptive grandfather's shoulder, strong from decades of digging, mining and building underground. _Okay, so maybe there's a_ little _manipulation in this family... but I'm okay with this kind._

{}

{}

 _For a long time, one of the ways I met my self-imposed weekly deadline was to write chapters at roughly around 2500 words, and also meant some chapters really bothered me because they felt fillery-transitive stuff that needs to happen to get characters from A to B, like Key, Seka and Jenny's sidetrip that led to them finding Looker, but didn't cause much plot movement. One of the side-effects of dropping that deadline and writing chapters at a pace I can manage, depending on my ratio of good to bad days, is letting myself take the time to write longer chapters with a lot more happening in them. Are longer chapters like these a problem for anybody, or is it worth a longer wait to get a more satisfying chapter?_

 _Also, here are my representations of two Elites. Ingame, seriously, so little happened in these battles-Key's notes are gone but on my part, Sally singlepawedly SLAUGHTERED Lucian, and Ferne handled most of Bertha herself, with Zoe and Elsa handling the Whiscash. So it was more fun to find other ways to include Lucian and Bertha. Lucian and Will have the same hair and skin colours, broadly similar colour schemes, and are both psychic, so it seemed obvious to me to make them brothers (I absolutely will not get to the Battle Frontier in this fic, but their mother is Argenta, who is also Koga's older sister. Because. A million years ago I mentioned Koga having a brother who went missing in the forests around Fuchsia-he was Karen's father). Making Bertha related to Byron and Roark also seemed like a logical progression to me. Also I love badass grandmothers. Most of my favourite photos I have of both of my grandmothers are from WWII, and both of them were warm, caring women who gave no fucks and took no shit. Aaron and Flint aren't related to any previously introduced characters, though, don't worry XD_

 _Finally, I hope everybody's NaNoWriMo is going well! Mine is… going. I think I'll finish, but it's been a SLOG. But at least I've written a lot of fic while procrastinating my novel?_

 _ **Saylee:**_

 _Chaz the Charizard, Tobias the Togekiss, Mary the Ampharos, Skye the Altaria, Nadia the Camerupt, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Elsa the Glaceon, Ferne the Floatzel)_

 _ **Blue:**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **Key:**_

 _Thomas the Grovyle, Topaz the Flygon, Manami the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Manami the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade)_

 _ **Jenny:**_

 _Sarah-Jane the Staraptor, Jack the Jolteon, Mickey the Manectric, Rose the Gardevoir, Craig the Castform, Sophie the Delcatty_

 _ **Seka:**_

 _Edge the Zangoose, Talyn the Mightyena, Ardenol the Weavile_


	72. Chapter 71

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 13_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 11:30am}_

 _{Eterna Forest}_

"Announcing Terra, aide to Fire Lord Caelin, attended by Ephraim and Elsa," Tad called as he led the trio of envoys into the forest clearing where Leaf Lord Teria held her court. Few Pokemon were there-they'd seen an almost unprecedented number of patrols of various species filling the forest, watching for any sign of any escaping Galactic members who might do more harm to Eterna Forest than they'd already done. Every tree and bush was full of eyes, even around the now-quiet mansion in the northern part of the forest.

"Thank you for receiving us, Leaf Lord," Terra said, bowing her head low enough that the sprout on top touched the ground. Ephraim and Elsa both bowed their heads to the ground, keeping them there after Terra looked up again.

"Terra," Teria said, smiling at the little Turtwig. At her side was her daughter, Crown Princess Tectona, a much smaller Torterra than her mother but a Torterra nevertheless. She was the only claimant to her mother's throne, and the lack of competition made her a much gentler soul than any of Prince or Caelin's siblings, and particularly Caelin herself. "Please pass on my regards to your new Fire Lord," Teria continued. "After all this time, I suppose there are still surprises in the world, even for me."

"Thank you, Lord Teria," Terra said. "The new Fire Lord sends her regards, and her assurances that Mt Coronet has been secured and cleansed of all Galactic interlopers. She has not sent us solely to give you these assurances, however, but with a request. Not a demand," she said gently but firmly, before either of the nobles could interject, "simply a request."

"Then make your unusually polite request," Teria said, nodding slowly to the group.

"Galactic had knowledge of things that they should not… stories that ought to have been passed down only among Pokemon," Terra explained. "We wish for your blessing to search the clan for those who might have shared what we know of the Lake Spirits and Mt Coronet with the humans."

Teria sighed deeply, closing her eyes. "Hmmm. There is no need, Terra, for such a search. I know only one member of my court who has dared speak to humans of such tales."

"What?! Who?!" Elsa yelped, straightening up. "Who _dared_ -"

"Elsa, be respectful," Terra chided her. "Forgive us, Leaf Lord, but who would do such a thing?"

"I would," Teria said, opening her eyes slowly.

"Mother!" Tectona exclaimed in shock. "Why would you tell _Galactic_ -?"

"I have never spoken to Galactic," Teria said calmly. "In the days before all humans were able to communicate with Pokemon, the gift was rare, and such humans were considered blessed, with a right to know of our stories if they wished. I myself only ever met three such humans. One was a child when I was, and grew old long before I did, and never breathed a word of what I told her to any human, not even her own children. Another man was… blessed, to be sure, but he grew sick in his heart as he aged and was abused by those who did not believe in his gift, and in the end he closed himself off from Pokemon before I could tell him anything, and indeed, so I hear, chose to leave this world young. Then… there was the boy who lived in the Chateau, back when it was a home rather than a tomb." She nodded in the direction of the haunted mansion that had killed Medley and nearly killed Key and Saylee. "This child was fascinated by Pokemon, and he was brilliant, so brilliant that he even created his own Pokemon of lightning. He went everywhere with this friend, and he was enthralled by my stories. But then he left to further his studies, and while he was away his brother grew sick in the head over his mate's death and slew their child and himself. That boy, Charon Hakutai… he was a child fifty years ago. Humans are not long-lived, but he might yet still live, and so if any human could have told others of our stories, it would be him. I would not know. After his brother's death, he did not return to this forest, not even for the funerals."

"Charon Hakutai…" Ephraim growled. "I will remember that name. Whether he is Galactic or has spoken to them, he may be responsible for immeasurable suffering!"

"A made Pokemon… Raiden," Terra realized. "Raiden might know something about him! Thank you for telling us this, Leaf Lord Teria," she said, bowing again, "but we must run and share this information."

"Of course," Teria said with another large, slow nod. "If he is responsible… then I bear a great weight of guilt for my misjudgement. Much has changed in recent decades…"

Terra, Ephraim and Elsa were already running. "There's a Centre for humans in the city," Terra explained as Ephraim picked her up by a ridge on her shell. "I'll tell you the way. Key and Saylee rested there before when they were injured, they'll probably be there again. We can get their help to find this Charon Hakutai."

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 10:55am}_

 _{Veilstone City}_

Instead of going through the main building, they flew in through the hole in the hangar roof that Lance had left, Key and Seka on Topaz' back, Jenny and her father on her Staraptor's. They returned their flying Pokemon as they landed and Key released Thomas, Seka released Talyn and Jenny released her Manectric and Jolteon, the two electric Pokemon shivering as their appearance made broken control panels spark.

"You smell anybody but us in here?" Seka asked, scratching Talyn's ears.

The Mightyena sniffed the air. "Don't think so, but there's been plenty a' strange folk in here," he said. "Ain't smellin' a thing fresh, though."

"If I remember well, there is teleportation over here, yes?" Looker said, leading them off of the launch platform. "Ah-ha! Still alive, too, I see!" he said happily, pointing at a glowing blue square on the ground. "Where might this lead now, I wonder?"

"Instead of standing on it to find out, I have a better idea," Key said, releasing Raiden.

"Hello!" Raiden buzzed brightly, electricity crackling off of their body in wild arcs in response to all of the broken electronics.

"Oi, stop that!" Mickey the Manectric yelped, crouching to the ground. Next to him, Jack flattened his long yellow ears as the needle-like fur all over the Jolteon's body stood on end.

"Rai sorry!" the Rotom said uncertainty, floating away from the others. "There's so much wild electricity here…"

"Raiden, you see this portpad?" Key said, pointing at the device in question. "We need to know where it goes. You can turn into pure energy, can't you? Are you able to go through it and tell us where it goes?"

"Yes! Rai can do that!" the Rotom said, excited to be of use. They disappeared in another bright crackle of electricity.

"Key? Question: what the hell kind of Pokemon have you been catching here in Sinnoh?" Thomas said, hanging off the wall over her head.

"I mean, it's a fair question," Seka said, nodding. "I've never seen another Pokemon like Raiden."

"Raiden's one of a kind," Key said with a shrug. "They're a sweetheart, really, just has more power than they know what to do with…"

"Rai's back!" Raiden announced, reappearing in the air ahead of them. "It goes lots and lots of places! Where do you want to go?"

"Wait, you can control where the portpad takes us?" Jenny asked, grinning excitedly.

"Yes!" Raiden said brightly.

"That is very fine indeed," Looker said, with an excited grin that his daughter had clearly come by honestly. "Where shall we search first?"

"Raiden, did you see any people in any of the places that this portpad goes to?" Key asked.

"Yes! Rai saw many, many people!" Raiden said, nodding their whole body.

"Hold on, many? I thought they'd already mostly cleared this place out before Pluto screwed with the portpads?" Seka said with a frown.

"Many!" Raiden insisted. "They were very scared, Rai think…"

"Can you take us to those people?" Key asked, returning Thomas.

"Yes! Follow Raiden!" Raiden said, vanishing back into the teleporter.

"Miss Weaves, forgive me, for your Pokemon seems most friendly and very good-natured," Looker said as Jenny and Seka returned their Pokemon, "but they do, as you said, 'have more power than they know what to do with', yes? Are you very sure that it is safe to stand on a portpad which Raiden is controlling?"

"...No," Key admitted reluctantly. "We've done a lot of training since I first met them at the Old Chateau, but I haven't tried to use a device that they're possessing except for holding their toy robot, so I guess I don't know for sure…"

Looker nodded. "In that case, I will walk through first," he declared.

"Dad, you were in hospital yes-" Jenny began, before biting her lip. "It wasn't yesterday for you, I know. But are you sure you're recovered enough?"

"I promise, Jenny, that I am feeling very healthy," Looker assured her, patting his daughter's shoulder. "Besides, I am now very much tougher, being a little bit a god, and a god of metal at that, so if there is to be shocking, better me than you, yes?"

"The man's got some very legitimate points," Seka agreed.

"Hey, why not?" Key said, stepping back. "Let us know how it goes!"

"Away I go!" Looker declared, hopping onto the portpad and vanishing. He was only gone for maybe ten seconds before he returned. "All is well!" he announced. "There was no more than a slight tingle, quite normal for teleportation! Come along!" He stepped backwards, vanishing again.

"Sweet," Seka said, following him onto the portpad.

"Do people ever tell you that your dad's a real character?" Key asked.

"Only everybody who ever meets him," Jenny said, shaking her head but smiling fondly as she walked onto the portpad and disappeared. Key gave it a moment, and then followed.

She found herself in a long underground corridor. The lights had all blown out, so Looker, Jenny and Seka were all shining flashlights around the hallway, revealing that the walls, floor and even ceiling were all scarred from combat. "So, Raiden, where are all the people you said you saw?" Key asked, looking around for her little lightning ghost.

"They're here!" Raiden said, floating down the hallway, the electricity that made up their body casting the whole hallway in an ethereal blue glow. "Hello scared people! Rai brought more people! They are very good at helping!"

"What peo- _OH HOLY FUCK,_ " Seka suddenly screeched, dropping her flashlight. The hallway fell into darkness as Jenny also dropped hers, screaming wordlessly.

"Jenny! JENNY!" Looker shouted, swinging his flashlight around, but then his voice was drowning out by the _screaming_ , the agonized wailing that hit Key like a wall, and she could see nothing but the wailing, begging, burning _faces_...

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 11:30am}_

 _{Sunyshore City}_

From a distance, Sunyshore City itself was indiscernible from the sea. Both were wide patches of shimmering blue, reflecting the low sun. It was only as they got closer that the solar panels' lack of motion started to stand out from the gently rolling waves. "Is that it?" Chaz asked. "Are solar panels some sort of camouflage?"

"Apparently," Saylee said, peering over his neck. "Okay. Let's land somewhere outside of the city and then go in. The goal is to avoid provoking a fight if at all possible."

"It's nice to have goals," Blue said, leaning his head on top of hers and giving her a squeeze. "Something to hope for, someday."

"Tell me about it," Saylee muttered, clinging a little tighter to Chaz' back as he came in to land on a mostly empty beach, startling a heavily wrapped-up fisherman.

"You trying to give a man a heart attack, eh?" he shouted after Saylee returned Chaz. "Thought it was Giratina or something, swooping down on a person like that!"

"Believe me, Charizard look _nothing_ like Giratina," Blue said authoritatively.

"We're just heading to Sunyshore," Saylee assured the fisherman, walking up to him. "Are you from the city, sir?"

"That I am," the fisherman said with a nod. "Not much of a tourist spot lately, though. Are you trainers? Hoping to fight Volkner, eh?"

"We'd like to meet him, certainly," Saylee said. "Could you give us directions to where to find him?"

"Well… not the gym, that's for sure," the fisherman sighed, shaking his head. "He's always working on the solar panels, I hear, and he's hardly ever in his gym. So I suppose I wouldn't know where to find him exactly, but maybe some of the workmen might know?"

"Thank you," Saylee said, looping her arm through Blue's and tucking her hands in her pockets as they walked down the beach. "'Working on the solar panels', huh? Fits with Galactic stealing power supplies from all over the country."

"I guess those creepy experiments they were doing in Veilstone took a lot of power," Blue said, wrinkling his nose. "Mrs Trent did mention they were trying to duplicate and manipulate whatever the hell it was those gems were made of… I'm not the scientist of the family, but that sounds difficult and power-consuming."

"Probably," Saylee agreed. "It doesn't really matter now… I wonder how much he knows about what went down in Veilstone and Coronet. It was only…" She looked at her pokegear. "Yesterday? Two days ago? I think midnight passed at some point. Feels like a year ago."

"Something I've noticed about travelling in and out of other dimensions: it turns time into utter roshit," Blue grumbled, hunching down into his scarf a little. "We've done it twice now, I think that makes us world authorities, don't you?"

"When we go home, I'm getting in bed, wrapping myself head to toe in duvet, and taking a month off," Saylee muttered. "We had two near-apocalypses this year, the world can take a break for a year or ten from trying to end. I am staying in my bed, in this dimension, and quietly processing while subsisting on tea and biscuits."

"Can I close the gym and join the burrito?" Blue asked. "I mean, I close the gym whenever the hell I like anyway, I think dealing with having been dead for a few hours and reality nearly unravelling like old gloves is me having a good excuse for once to hole up." That sentence got them an odd look from another bundled-up young couple who were stepping down from the boardwalk to the sand.

"Morning," Saylee said, nodding to them as she and Blue walked past. "You think people know how _close_ they came to not existing anymore? I know a lot of weird portals started turning up, but it was the middle of the night, so…"

"Wishing Cyrus had tried his shit in the middle of the day, so the whole country could more easily see us save their asses?" Blue teased.

"I mean, Cyrus not trying _any_ shit would be favourite, but I'd settle for my explanation of what happened up there sounding so unbelievable and being so nigh-unverifiable," Saylee grumbled.

"I don't know how much time you've spent on newsboards in the past few months, but a shitton of people took footage of Groudon and Kyogre fighting and a lot of people are still insisting _that's_ a hoax, so it might be too much to hope for," Blue advised her. "Achievable goals, remember."

"Focus on the job at hand," Saylee sighed. "Volkner. Right. Good morning," she said, walking into a tourist information office at the end of the boardwalk and smiling at the lady behind the desk. "Could you tell me if there's an easy way to locate the gym leader? I understand he's often out of the gym these days."

"Volkner? Well, let's see… yes, he's often out, but I hear you can catch him getting a cup of coffee at the lighthouse around lunchtime," the lady said thoughtfully, looking up at the clock. "Hold on, I'll give the desk there a call, they can let us know if he's there. Trainers, are you?"

"Yes, we are," Saylee said. "Thank you very much."

Blue taped her arm with a leaflet he'd picked out of the display on the table. It was covered in lightning bolts and pictures of rare electric Pokemon, apparently advertising the gym itself, which as well as being part of the Sinnoh League contained some kind of museum of technology. She took a long look at the photo of Volkner himself, a confidently grinning young man with wildly spiked blonde hair. Saylee was wondering if the hairstyle was a prerequisite of becoming an electric specialist or if spending all day around electricity put your hair forever beyond your control when the desk clerk ended the quiet chat she'd been having and hung up the phone.

"Well, dears, you're in luck, apparently he just walked past Amy's desk right while I was talking to her!" the lady said brightly. "If you hurry, he should still be at the coffee pod up on the viewing deck when you get there. At the desk, ask for Amy, tell her Christine sent you, alright? She'll buzz him down for you."

"Thank you so much, Christine!" Saylee said, smiling at her.

"Five stars on yelp!" Blue promised as he and Saylee hurried out of the door. "Our goal is to get this guy without a fight, but just in case, I've got Girish," he said, holding up a pokeball. "How about you?"

"Nadia," Saylee admitted, holding up her Camerupt's pokeball. "With Toby and Mary as their main backup. Toby might be part-flying but he's more than used to electricity, and Mary might take it as a personal challenge. She doesn't get enough challenge these days."

The lighthouse was easy to find. It was smaller than Olivine's lighthouse, but most of the buildings along the coastline were quite low, so the shining structure towered above everything. The ground floor wasn't busy, aside from a tourist family buying tickets to go up to the observation deck. Saylee and Blue waited until they'd finally managed their purchase-the parents spoke somewhat patchy Fairlan and kept speaking over their somewhat more fluent children-to catch the lone desk attendant. "Excuse me, are you Amy?" Saylee asked. "Christine told us-"

"The trainers looking for a gym battle, right?" the redhead said with a nod. "It's alright, you don't have to pay to go up to the observation deck if you're not here to sightsee, I'll get on the horn to Dave at the coffee pod… Dave?" she said, picking up the phone on her desk. "Hi, can you give Volkner a shout? He's got challengers. I don't know… how many badges have you got?" she asked, tucking the phone against her shoulder briefly.

"Umm.. seven?" Saylee said, a little taken aback by the speed at which the woman talked.

"Seven, she says, that might catch his interest, eh? Alright, Dave, you're a star, thanks, see you! Alright, he's on his way down," she said, hanging up. "A real battle ought to cheer him up, he's been awful down lately and nobody can say why, keeps turning down challengers who've only got a couple of badges. Can I interest you in some lighthouse-shaped biscuits or an amusing charm in the shape of the tower while you wait? It's got a flashlight in it!"

"Will wonders never cease," Blue said, flicking the light on and off a couple times. He straightened up as the elevator hummed, having presumably dropped off the tourist family upstairs and picked up Volkner. Saylee's hands drifted to the pokeballs in her pockets, finding Nadia's, Toby's and Mary's.

The man who stepped out of the elevator was wearing the same jacket as the one in the pamphlet, but otherwise could've been a different person. He was thinner, for one, with dark circles under his eyes, and his messy hair was limp and dark with grease rather than vibrant and on-end. He was holding a cup of coffee in one hand as he shuffled out of the elevator, but when he looked up and caught sight of Saylee and Blue, it fell from his fingers, splashing hot coffee across the floor.

"Oh my goodness, are you okay?!" Amy cried, leaping to her feet. Volkner ignored the steaming coffee splashed on his shoe and pants leg, staring wide-eyed at Saylee and Blue.

"Guess he knows who we are," Blue muttered.

"Mr Denzi," Saylee said, "my name is Saylee Pryce, and this is Blue Oak. We're here on behalf of Sar Cynthia Shirona to-"

"You…" Volkner said softy, ignoring Amy hurrying over to him with a roll of paper towels. "You're the ones who killed Marcus."

 _Marcus… that was what Mercury's real name turned out to be, right?_ "That isn't what happened," Saylee said, glancing over at Amy, who'd stopped short at Volkner's quiet declaration, staring at them in confusion. _There were five people in that family, plus at least the coffee pod guy upstairs… there might be other tourists too. That's way more civilians than I'm comfortable with being here._ "We're not here to start a fight, Mr Denzi. If you could just come with us quietly-"

As soon as she said it, she knew it wasn't going to happen. Volkner's face twisted in rage and then, in a flash, he'd released four Pokemon-a Jolteon, a Raichu, a Luxray, and something like an Electabuzz only much larger and stronger-looking.

"I'm not going _anywhere_ with you," Volkner snarled, "not after you _killed my brother_!"

{}

{}

 _First up, I want to send some love and appreciation to DracoFighter, who always reviews on guest so I can't message them directly to say thanks, but just know that your kind words and understanding are massively appreciated!_

 _So I did just barely scrape into successfully finishing NaNoWriMo. I have also finished the full outlines for the two Unova fics since-they're both probably going to have much longer chapters, but should come in at under 40 chapters each. Just tiny wee things, really :P This fic is very much in the home stretch, but I want to thank everybody who's stuck with it so far. You're all the light of my life. Hope you're all having a very happy holiday period, whatever you're celebrating just now! Tis the season for new Star Wars, falalalalaaa, la la la la~ Ram those bastards with the_ Raddus _, falalalalaaa, la la la la~ (I really, really liked_ The Last Jedi. _Three for three on good Star Wars movies in this generation so far!)_

 _ **Saylee:**_

 _Chaz the Charizard, Tobias the Togekiss, Mary the Ampharos, Skye the Altaria, Nadia the Camerupt, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Elsa the Glaceon, Ferne the Floatzel)_

 _ **Blue:**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **Key:**_

 _Thomas the Grovyle, Topaz the Flygon, Manami the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade)_

 _ **Jenny:**_

 _Sarah-Jane the Staraptor, Jack the Jolteon, Mickey the Manectric, Rose the Gardevoir, Craig the Castform, Sophie the Delcatty_

 _ **Seka:**_

 _Edge the Zangoose, Talyn the Mightyena, Ardenol the Weavile_


	73. Chapter 72

_Saylee—Pokémon: 18 Deaths: 13_

 _Key—Pokémon: 9 Deaths: 7_

 _Archie—Pokémon: 5 Deaths: 3_

 _Blue—Pokémon: 6 Deaths: 1_

 _(See the bottom of the chapter for team rosters)_

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 11:31am}_

 _{Veilstone City}_

Key came to slowly and with great regret. Consciousness _hurt_.

"What the fuck," Seka was muttering quietly. "What the fuck. What the _fuck_."

"I am afraid that I do not have a shock blanket, miss Seka, but my coat is very big and warm if you need-"

"I don't need a fucking shock blanket, I need to know what the _fuck_ happened in there!"

Key opened her eyes, feeling inexpressible relief at the sight of blue sky above her, framed by broken ceiling. She sat up slowly, fighting the phantom pain that was wracking her body. Looking down at herself, she could _see_ that she hadn't been set on fire, but that nerve-grinding pain that was somehow sharp and yet everywhere at once was throbbing in every inch of her. Not far away, Looker was crouching next to Jenny, propping her up with an arm around her shoulders. Both of them were looking at Seka, who had her head in her shaking hands.

"I am afraid that what your Raiden took for people were in fact ghosts," Looker explained, looking at Key, "though I suppose they were people, once. But people who died in quite terrible ways, so because they suffer, they make others suffer also, because it is all that they know anymore."

"What were Galactic _doing_ here?!" Jenny gasped.

"Deep breaths, Jenny, the pain is not real," Looker said gently, rubbing her back. "They are not people who were killed by Galactic. I brought all of you back here, where it is safe, and then I went back to look at the past there, and I saw Cyrus breaking under his heel a stone in which all of these poor souls were trapped. I saw also Archibald Irving, who I like very much more now that I see that at that time he was protecting my sister-in-law and her children."

"Oh… Archie had a Spiritomb," Key remembered. "It was called Sutekh, but he said Cyrus killed it…?"

"Can you kill dead shit? Something I've always wondered about ghosts," Seka muttered. "Actually, better question. You said they're the ghosts of _people_? As in _humans_? In a _Pokemon_?"

"It's more likely than you think," Key said, thinking of the Reverse. "I think once you're dead, a soul's a soul, y'know?"

"So what… what do we do about angry ghosts?" Jenny asked shakily. "Angry _human_ ghosts? They're just human ghosts now?"

"We saw human ghosts too… in Eterna Forest," Key said, rubbing her chest as the memory of a different kind of pain struck her, this kind her own. "Lee did, anyway, I didn't. Tashigi and Puck did… something… but Lee also showed me some kind of… bone doll thing? She said she got it from Carrie, her Marowak, and she told me about the Cubone and Marowak in Lavender Town…"

"Okay, but… is that a place in Kanto?" Seka asked, raising a hand. "Because unless you've got one of those dolls on you, that's a long damn way to go for help…"

"Not so far," Key said, carefully getting to her feet and looking up. Only sky was visible above, but she knew that as soon as anybody stepped outside or flew through the hole in the ceiling, the vastness of Mt Coronet would be easy to see. "Like I said, she got it from her Marowak. One of the Pokemon who came here to help her fight. She's still up on Mt Coronet, I think." She released Topaz. "Hey, Topaz, you know what a Marowak looks like, right? Grown-up Cubone?"

"Oh, sure," Topaz said with a nod. "I remember Lazarus, back in Petalburg. The little brown one with a skull on his head, right?"

"Yeah, like him, but bigger," Key said, nodding back. "There's one up on Mt Coronet somewhere that we really need to talk to. Could you go find her and bring her back?"

"Sure," Topaz said, buzzing her wings and flying off through the roof.

"I think it is good to rest and wait," Looker said. "All of you received very bad shocks. Your Raiden was very upset, so I asked him to go find a living human somewhere in the building. Sometimes, when you are upset, it is best to be busy to move your mind away, yes?"

"Lee does that too," Key sighed, sitting back down heavily. Her legs felt weak. "Why weren't you affected?"

"I did see what the ghosts wished to show me, but I think it was Dialga who protected my mind so that I did not feel the pain and could see that the pictures were only illusions," Looker said thoughtfully. "I was told, by myself in the very far future, that having a god means to be protected from poison. Perhaps that also means poison of the mind…"

"Where do I sign up for this god shit?" Seka said, rubbing her head and taking deep breaths. "Seriously, I am _so_ down for never seeing anything like that _ever_ again."

"I, um… think I remember reading in one of Mum's books once about how Spiritomb are made," Jenny said quietly. "It's… it's bad. It's horrible. A _lot_ of people have to die, and the way they have to die is…" She shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut tight. "Most ghost experts think it hasn't been done in at least three thousand years, but no matter how long it's been since those people died, I don't blame them for still being angry about it."

"Hey, _we_ didn't kill 'em," Seka pointed out.

"They may not be aware of that," Looker said sadly.

Key closed her eyes, focusing on breathing, feeling her skin tingle as the pain ebbed away and real feeling came back.

She'd counted thirty breaths before there was another shriek from Seka. "Gods _dammit_ , can we _not_ have any more freaky shit today?!" she yelled.

Key opened her eyes to see Seka pointing her shovel at several figures who had appeared silently in the middle of the warehouse. Topaz was there, flicking her tail nervously, as was Carrie, who Key recognized from the Reverse. The Hitmonchan who'd been with her was also there- _come to think of it, Lee said that Carrie had a mate who's a Hitmonchan… called Hernan, right?_ -as was the tall grey Pokemon that had destroyed the Red Chains on top of Mt Coronet.

"Was that Teleport?" Jenny asked, sounding bemused.

"Mewtwo teleported us down," Carrie said, patting the grey Pokemon's hand. "It seemed faster. I understand that there are a _lot_ of lost souls in need here."

" _If there are many angry ghosts here, perhaps it is better that I do not stay,_ " a deep, resonating voice said inside of Key's head. She recognized telepathic speech, though it shook her to hear it for the first time in a decade.

"You're improving," Carrie promised him, swinging her bone club over her shoulder. "Keep working on those techniques I taught you. It might not feel like they're making a difference at first, but trust me, keep working at it. For now, I can handle this."

"And I can handle any physical threats that may arise," the Hitmonchan said, punching his fists together. "You're here looking for some more Galactic members, right? It's a long time since I've fought anybody who _needs_ punched quite that badly."

"Wow, no doubt that Lee trained you," Key giggled.

"She _was_ our trainer, but who do you think taught _her_ to throw a punch?" the Hitmonchan said, looking amused. "Didn't Blue say that he and Saylee were going to arrest another Galactic member somewhere else?" he added. "Mewtwo, if you want to help, you could go find them and help there."

"Mew-what," Seka said flatly, looking at Key.

"I think Lee knows them?" Key said with a shrug. "Look, I know my life's been busy with weird shit since I met Lee, but _her_ life is _years_ of nonstop weird shit that I probably still only know a fraction of. They helped us on Mount Coronet, they're shaped like a friend, I'm just gonna accept it."

"Mx Mewtwo was responsible for breaking the control that Cyrus had over Dialga and Palkia," Looker mused. "It is nice to meet you properly, Mx Mewtwo. Thank you very much for your help at that time."

"... _I am glad to help,_ " Mewtwo responded. Key got a resounding sense of _nonplussed_ every time Looker addressed them as "Mx". " _I will go help Saylee and Blue._ "

"They went east, to Sunyshore-if you will look into my mind for a moment, you will see the way," Looker offered, pointing to his head.

" _I will look carefully,_ " Mewtwo promised, their eyes glowing bright blue momentarily. " _I see. I hope I did not hurt you?_ "

"Not at all! Very good telepathy!" Looker promised, giving Mewtwo a thumbs-up. "Have a safe journey!"

Mewtwo nodded, then vanished in a brief flash of blue.

"Right, then… lost souls," Carrie said, closing her eyes. She held out her bone club. "I can hear them… here," she said, lowering it to touch the ground. "They're below us. Is there a quick way down?"

"Sure," Key said, going over to the portpad. "Raiden?" she called. "Can you hear me?"

Though the pad was still crackling with electricity, she could see no sign of Raiden. "Raiden did indeed go back into the teleport," Looker offered. "I hope that they are alright…"

"Raiden?" Key called again, to no response. "Raiden!"

"Guess we're doing this the old-fashioned way," Carried said, twirling her club over her head and then slamming it into the ground so hard that it dented the steel flooring. When she pulled her club back up over her head, Hernan slammed down a rapid flurry of punches that deepened the dent and made the metal screech. He bounced out of the way just before Carrie slammed her club down again.

"Um… should I help?" Topaz said, buzzing nervously over Carrie and Hernan's heads as they started tearing through the floor.

"No, we need to find Raiden," Key said, shaking her head, "and it looks like we're doing it the old-fashioned way."

"Okay, but how?" Seka said, watching Key climb back onto Topaz' back. "It'll take forever to go through this whole building, that's why they haven't managed to corner anybody yet!"

"...we have more and better Pokemon than the average police officer?" Key suggested, wilting a little.

"Lady Weaves is most correct, as it happens," Looker offered, "but the secret, of course, is not only to train strong Pokemon, but to know how best to use them, yes? For example, canine Pokemon are often fine trackers, and my Jenny happens to have not one but _two_ canine Pokemon of the electric type!" He beamed at his daughter, who picked two pokeballs off her her belt thoughtfully.

"Mickey told me about how Manectric like to nest on spots where there've been lightning strikes," she said. "Manectric know that lightning often _does_ strike twice in the same spot,and they want to be there when it does. They can sort of… smell the discharge. If there've been any unusual electrical discharges in the building…"

"We could take different floors," Seka offered. "I've got Talyn for old-fashioned scent tracking, you've got Mickey and Jack…"

"I myself have the most lovely and dependable Grace," Looker declared, holding up a pokeball of his own.

"I don't have any trackers… could I borrow one of yours?" Key asked Jenny, touching the pokeballs on her own belt briefly. _Ephraim went with Terra, and Python didn't come to Sinnoh…_ She tried not to imagine her Mightyena, alone on Mt Pyre, so deep in his mourning that he missed the opportunity to see Polly with his own eyes in the Reverse.

"When we drop you off, I'll give you Jack," Jenny offered, releasing her Staraptor again. "So, who's taking what floor?"

"Perhaps I shall take the basement, in case of ghosts?" Looker offered, pointing at Carrie and Hernan tearing through the floor. "Jenny and Lady Weaves may fly to the upper floors, and Miss Seka can take the ground floor!"

"Yes, sir," Jenny said, ripping off a salute as she released Sarah-Jane and climbed onto the huge Staraptor's back.

"Good luck!" Carrie and Hernan called from the rapidly deepening pit they were digging.

{ _Darnua 24_ _th_ _, 11:39am}_

 _{Sunyshore City}_

Saylee barely got Nadia out in time before two powerful Charge Beams struck at them. Luckily, the huge orange-red Camerupt only blinked slowly as the electricity hit her harmlessly, before looking down as the Luxray and odd Electabuzz bounced off of her side, their attacks on Saylee and Blue interrupted by her appearance. "That's rude," she said flatly. "There's only one of me and four of them…"

"We can fix that," Blue offered, releasing Girish. Saylee released Skye and Mary so that she and Blue had four Pokemon facing Volkner's Jolteon, Raichu, Luxray and huge Electabuzz. "My 'dex says that thing's called an Electivire," he added quietly as he flipped the flat red device out of his pocket. "I didn't even know Electabuzz evolved."

"You learn something new every day," Saylee muttered back, watching Amy flee the ground floor of the Lighthouse with a scream. "Toby, Chaz, there's at least six people upstairs-get them out!" she called, releasing her Togekiss and Charizard out of the door before it swung shut behind Amy. The two flew off before she'd even finished speaking, not really needing to be told what to do with civilians close to a battlefield.

Volkner didn't seem to notice them. When Saylee looked around Nadia, the man's previously pale, slack face was now red with rage and twisted in hatred. "Are these the Pokemon you were fighting with when you killed him?!" he snarled furiously. "Double Kick, Brick Break, Ice Fang!"

His Pokemon didn't need to be told who to attack. The Luxray went right for Girish, its fangs now glistening with ice instead of crackling with electricity, while the other three all attacked Nadia.

 _They've been trained to go after the biggest threat first,_ Saylee realized, _or what they_ think _is the greatest threat…_ "Rock Slide, Ancient Power!" she shouted, as sure that she could depend on her Pokemon to know what to do as Volkner was.

Her voice nearly overlapped Blue yelling "Sand Tomb!".

" _Get some_!" Girish screeched as the doors were blasted open again by the Gabite summoning a wave of beach sand in to swirling into a tiny, personal sandstorm around the Luxray who was gnawing coldly at his arm.

Nadia howled in agony as she was struck by three fighting attacks at once, stumbling to the ground, but that movement made it easier for Mary, who'd been ignored by the enemy, to send several boulders wrenched from the cliff-front outside flying through the now-open door over Nadia's head and into her attackers as directed by the glow of Mary's tail. Ampharos weren't psychic, so Saylee had never quite understood how Mary made Ancient Power work, other than guessing it had something to do with the proportion of magnetic ores in the stone. All Mary herself could offer was "ye just need the knowin' o' the rocks, ye ken". Whatever she knew, it was enough to knock Nadia's attackers off of her so that the battered Camerupt could, at a roar, strike them again with those same rocks.

"Nadia, lighten up, you'll crush them!" Saylee yelled frantically as the Jolten screeched pitifully, paws scrabbling against the floor as he tried to drag himself out from under the crushing weight.

"What do _you_ care?!" Volkner snapped. "You think I'll forgive you if you're _nice_ enough to _not_ murder me and my Pokemon too?!"

"What about me?" Skye asked, drifting backwards towards Saylee.

"Get me close to Volkner," Saylee whispered, hauling herself up amongst Skye's fluffy feathers, grateful for how small she could curl up. She would be invisible to Volkner's eyes. "Blue, can you keep him distracted?"

"We're not here for forgiveness, we're here to _arrest_ your ass!" Blue yelled as Skye flew upwards. "And we didn't kill your asshole brother, asshole!"

"Clear the boulders with Giga Impact, Ebner!" Volkner shouted.

"You murderers aren't killing anybody else!" the Electivire bellowed, yanking his arm out from under the boulder pinning him and slamming through all of the boulders, pulverizing them and finally slamming Girish against the wall. The Gabite snarled as he pushed back, a golden star starting to bloom across his nose.

"You got there, Girish! YOU GOT THERE! DRAGON RUSH HIS ASS!" Blue shouted excitedly. Saylee didn't see the results, though she could hear the roaring. Her gaze was fixated on Volkner as Skye flew over the battlefield and down towards the lone human standing on the other side.

Volkner's eyes narrowed on Blue as the shifting tides of battle momentarily cleared enough for the Sunyshore leader to see that the Viridian Leader was standing alone. Saylee judged that to be as good a time as any to drop on his head.

At least, she meant to. Volkner was so thin that he presented a difficult target to hit from above, not to mention, she realized, he was swaying slightly on his feet, probably not out of tactical evasiveness. She managed to grab his shoulders to prevent herself from hitting the ground-he was _tall_ -and swung her knees into his gut, making him double over. She dropped to the floor, but then slipped on the coffee, bringing her to her knees instead of a stable position on her feet. She was forced to duck down when Volkner swung a foot at her head, leaning down on her hands and elbows as she swung her feet around to knock his feet out from under him, sending him to the floor as well.

"Volkner, we don't have to fight! Just come quietly!" she demanded, moving up to a crouch. "I _know_ it hurts to lose your brother-believe me, _I know_! But hurting us isn't going to bring him back!"

"No," Volkner acknowledged, pulling a fifth pokeball off of his belt and opening it as he rolled out of the coffee puddle, "but _I'll_ enjoy it."

The Lanturn in the pokeball appeared in his arms, its bulbs sparking. Saylee scrambled to stand up, but she could tell she wasn't going to make it before Volkner lowered the Lanturn into the coffee puddle.

"Discharge!" Volkner yelled.

Saylee closed her eyes, wondering if she should have stayed on the ground so that she wouldn't fall when the electricity hit. She opened them a couple of seconds later when white-hot pain failed to happen and the ground vanished from under her feet.

"When'd you learn Fly, hon?" Skye asked as she flew past her floating trainer. Saylee looked down at the expression of confused rage on Volkner's face, then around to the battlefield, where Blue and all of the Pokemon were staring upwards in surprise.

She followed their gaze upwards and saw Mewtwo. "Nice catch," she said, making an 'OK!' signal at him.

" _Are you alright?"_ Mewtwo asked, radiating concern as they slowly lowered her to the ground next to Blue. " _I have never before picked up a person without hurting them_."

Saylee consciously avoided moving her hands or flinching at the memory of psychic force crushing her whole body. "You've really improved a lot," she said gently. "I'm fine. Thank you very much." She looked back to Volkner, who was staring at Mewtwo in complete incomprehension. "I'm not sure if you should have come here, though, Mewtwo. He was in Galactic."

" _I am aware,_ " Mewtwo said, setting her down next to Blue. With a sweep of their hand, all of the Pokemon were separated from each other, crying out as they floated in the air. " _I came to help end this fighting. It is not necessary. Galactic is finished._ "

"I don't fucking _care_ about Galactic!" Volkner shouted, anger overtaking his confusion. "I don't fucking care about _anything_ except for making them _pay_ for murdering my brother!"

Mewtwo was quiet for a long moment, then said, " _No. Your anger is misplaced. I see your brother's face at the top of your mind, and Saylee and Blue were not the ones who killed him. I was._ "

Volkner looked up sharply. "What?" he whispered.

"Mewtwo, you really shouldn't be out in public like this…" Saylee began, not sure where the powerful psychic was going with this.

Mewtwo shook their head. " _It was not my intention to kill him,_ " they said, focusing on Volkner. " _He should not have been where he was, or doing what he was doing, but he did not deserve to die. My power lashed out of my control, and it killed him. I must take responsibility for that action, and I will not allow others to suffer for it. If your hate is meant for anybody, human, it is me._ " They set down all of the Pokemon.

Volkner's Pokemon immediately moved into attack position, but then paused, looking past Saylee and Blue with surprised expressions. Saylee turned just in time to see a tall man with a huge mass of curly red hair come running into the room.

"Yo! Volkner!" he yelled. "This rad Charizard dropped off a ton of people in town who were yelling about fighting at the Lighthouse…" He looked at Saylee and Blue, frowned in confusion, opened his mouth a little to speak, then his jaw fully dropped as he caught sight of Mewtwo.

"Dude, whoever you are, it's nice you wanna help, but you should _not_ be here," Blue advised.

"Blue, he's a member of the _Elite Four_ here, his name's Flint," Saylee groaned. "Flint Oba, right? My name's Saylee Pryce, this is Blue Oak. Bertha Tougan told me about you-actually, come to think of it, she was telling me she might offer to introduce you to a Charizard trainer if she ever needed a favour from you. And right now, Cynthia Shirona's asked us to arrest this man as a Galactic spy."

Flint flinched. " _What_?!" he said, aghast. "I mean, yeah, I've heard of you too, Bertha's _way_ too into having grandchildren to talk all our ears off about now-what the hell is going on?!" He flailed an arm at the battlefield. " _Volkner_? C'mon, man, I know… I know Marcus was into some shady shit, but that wasn't _you_ , right? And what the _hell_ is that?!" He pointed at Mewtwo.

"Their name's Mewtwo, and much as you don't like it, your buddy over there _is_ part of Galactic, so if you're not gonna help us bring him in, at least stay the hell out of the way," Blue said, rounding on Volkner. Girish immediately moved to his trainer's side, raising his bladed forearms, now much longer and sharper than they had been.

Mewtwo raised a hand. " _His grievance is with me,_ " they said. " _Volkner. You may hurt me if you wish, but it will not heal your pain. Please allow Saylee and Blue to take you away._ "

"...Leigh?" Volkner said quietly.

"Yeah?" his Lanturn said, looking up at his trainer with a nervous expression.

"Signal Beam," Volkner said firmly. "I do want to hurt you," he said as the Lanturn's bulbs glowed, this time many colours instead of yellow. "Thanks for that."

Mewtwo was knocked back several feet in the air by the multicoloured stream of light.

"Mewtwo's psychic! Lee, that's gaunnae _really_ hurt 'em!" Mary cried, turning to her trainer. "We're no gaunnae let him dae this, are we?!"

"I think Mewtwo can take a lot more punishment than the average Pokemon," Saylee said quietly, looking at Flint. "I don't want to make another move without knowing whether you're on our side, his, or staying out of the way," she said sharply. "I mean, if you want to side with your friend, I understand, but I'd like to know _now_ to get on with this." Mary and Skye both moved in to flank their trainer, looking from Flint to Volkner. Nadia was panting with exhaustion, but still stepped to block Saylee and Blue from the sight of the rest of Volkner's Pokemon, even though they were all mostly collapsed in various stages of injury. Only the Electivire remained on his feet, watching Volkner and his Lanturn attack Mewtwo.

"Listen, man, he's just hurting over his brother dying, alright?" Flint insisted. "If you attacked him just because his _brother_ was in Galactic, you're _way_ outta line. Marcus was never really on the straight and narrow, sure, but I've known Volkner a long time and that is _not_ his scene. So call off your Mew-whatever-"

"Mewtwo's not mine," Saylee said, shaking her head. "But if it looks like Volkner is gonna really hurt them, I _am_ gonna step in, because they're a friend."

"And out of self-preservation," Blue muttered. "Volkner, this isn't gonna get you anywhere! Put the damn Lanturn away!"

"Just say the word and we'll jump in," Girish growled, raising their claws.

" _Please do not_ ," Mewtwo said sharply, even as they dropped a few feet closer to the floor. They had their arms folded in front of them to protect themself from the beam of light. " _This will not help you,_ _Volkner_ ," they said.

"Killing my goddamn brother sure as shit didn't help me!" Volkner yelled furiously. "Stop psychoanalyzing me and _fight me,_ dammit!"

" _You are very angry,_ " Mewtwo said. Their telepathic voice was strained. " _I can feel that anger thrashing in the air around you. But a lot of that anger is not for me, nor is it for Saylee and Blue, and hurting us is not making it better. You want me to fight you because-_ "

"SHUT UP! Lei, _Crunch_!" Volkner shouted. Volkner's Luxray looked a little uncertain, but he still leapt up as best he could on three legs and sank his teeth into one of Mewtwo's long feet.

The psychic winced, dropping to the ground. Now Saylee could see that Mewtwo's arms weren't folded protectively, but wrapped around themself, straining to hold in their power as the pain threatened to overload them. "Mary, Skye, Nadia-get back and out of the door," Saylee ordered. "Keep people _away_ from the Lighthouse!"

"Girish, get ready to grab us and run!" Blue yelled, catching her train of thought. "Look, Rock, pal, whatever-you might wanna run yourself. If Mewtwo loses control-"

" _I… will not,_ " Mewtwo insisted, even as their voice got even more strained. " _Volkner. You are angry at yourself. You want_ me _to hurt_ you _. Why_?"

"SHUT! UP!" Volkner bellowed. "JOMEI, PIN NEEDLE!"

"Are you sure?" the Jolteon said, pawing the ground uncertainly. "If this thing killed Marcus, do we really wanna-?"

"Volkner, don't do it!" Flint yelled, ignoring all warnings and running across this field. "Is this what it's about, man? Have you been feeling _guilty_? Dude, you weren't there, you couldn't-"

"I was there every other time!" Volkner yelled. "He _always_ got in over his head, but I was always there to pull him out! Every single time, until-!"

"You didn't exactly pull him out of Galactic," Blue pointed out. "Also, if you're just trying to get Mewtwo to attack _you_ out of some fucked-up self-hatred, pretty fucking selfish of you to do it in a populated area. Or do you just give that little of a shit about anybody except you and your brother?"

"That's enough."

Volkner suddenly went rigid, then his eyes closed as he collapsed. With all eyes drawn to his attack on Mewtwo, his huge Electivire had somehow managed to go unnoticed until he was close enough to taze his own trainer. "Jomei, Lei, Leigh, enough. I don't think this is about revenge anymore."

All three Pokemon stopped attacking, watching warily as Mewtwo pulled themself up to a sitting position, but all they did was sit. " _Why… was he angry at himself?_ " Mewtwo said. Their voice was quiet, though Saylee couldn't tell if that was deliberate or from exhaustion. " _Why did he want me to hurt him_?"

Flint crouched down, rolling Volkner onto his back, checking his friend's pulse and breathing. "Look… maybe Volkner wasn't _in_ Galactic," he said hopelessly, "but he… okay, look, Marcus was his half-brother, right? His folks split when he was a baby, he went looking for his old man years later and found out he'd had Mark. Mark's folks weren't great to him, so Volkner wanted to be there for him no matter what. Problem was… Volkner never said 'no' to Mark, y'know? Never refused to do anything Mark asked him to do, never tried to get Mark to do anything he didn't wanna, even if it'd be for his own good. Spoiled him, basically, and Mark took advantage of it. Mark got into all sorts of shit, just 'cause… well, just 'cause he knew his big brother would pull him out when things were dangerous and would take the fall for him if needed, I guess. That's how he got to be such a good trainer. We trained together as kids, sure, but he never _wanted_ to be a trainer like I did, he just got good for Mark's sake."

"You're not telling me anything that convinces me that he wouldn't join Galactic alongside his brother," Blue said, looking at Saylee, who figured she had to look as shaken as she felt to put _that_ expression on his face.

"He wanted you to hurt him as punishment for not being there to save his brother," Saylee said quietly to Mewtwo. "Volkner can't get past the idea that he could've saved Marcus, and it hurts him more than he knows what to do with… why did it take Cynthia so long to track down that the dead Galactic member was his brother?" she asked Flint.

"Well… Volkner changed his surname to his dad's later in life, after some shit with his mom that I ain't even gonna get into," Flint said, shaking his head unhappily, "but his dad was never on his birth certificate, so there wouldn't be any legal trail directly between him and Mark. Volkner got arrested a couple times, but it was always bailing Mark's ass out and keeping his record squeaky-clean, so they didn't even share a criminal record or anything… no paper trail between the two, you get me?"

"But _you_ knew they were related," Blue said accusingly.

Flint hung his head. "He was hurting too damn much over losing Mark, I wasn't gonna make it worse by getting him dragged in by the police," he said quietly. "I really didn't think he was in Galactic himself… you still ain't proved that," he snapped.

"We're working off the testimony of a couple of ex-Galactic members who turned evidence," Blue said with a shrug. "They're the ones that confirmed that Marcus and Volkner were brothers, and that Volkner's been stealing Sunyshore's power for Galactic's experiments."

"Marcus is probably how Cyrus recruited Volkner," Saylee added, crouching next to Mewtwo and gently putting a hand on their forehead. They felt cold, but it struck her that she had no idea whether or not that was normal for them.. "He got powerful trainers and powerful minds by telling them whatever they wanted to hear-that they could perform research without limits, that they could be cruel without consequence, that they could be free of all hurt… he probably recruited Marcus just to get Volkner on his side." She looked up at Volkner's Pokemon. "I'm sure he'd do worse just to get Pokemon like you on his side."

"I'm happy to protect Volkner from the shit he gets into on his brother's behalf," Ebner said, sitting down on the floor next to his trainer. "If he was trying to get himself hurt, this is me protecting him. Is he going to jail?"

"Probably," Mary said, looking around the other injured, dejected-looking Pokemon. "Dinnae fash, the lot ay yous arenae gaunnae be charged fae crimes comitted under yer trainer's command, unless yer plannin tae fight again." Her tail sparked threateningly. "With him no exactly in a state tae give commands, assaultin' officers ay the law'd be all on yous."

"Don't really see the point," Lei sighed, flopping down on the ground and starting to lick his various wounds. "I get the feeling we're not gonna be able to stop you."

"If he wanted that guy to hurt him, why the hell'd he get us pulled into it and half-smashed?" the Raichu complained, clutching his broken tail. "Should've left us in our pokeballs!"

"I'm hearing a vote of no resistance," Blue said, fishing in Saylee's bag for handcuffs. "How about you, Slate? You getting in the way?"

"It's _Flint_ , and… I think your ex-Galactics are lying bastards, same as the rest of them," Flint grumbled, standing up and backing away to let Blue handcuff Volkner. "But I don't wanna make this tangle any worse. I'm gonna let his innocence speak for itself… and try and arrange to get this asshole to grief counselling. Honestly, most people didn't even know they were related, so it's not like a whole lot of people even knew he was grieving…"

"Sounds like he needs it," Saylee said, scooping up Volkner's pokeballs and returning his Pokemon. "You'd better go, Mewtwo… but thank you for arriving when you did. You saved my life."

" _You are sad now,_ " Mewtwo noted. " _Why? This is a victory, and nobody died._ "

"I'm sad because Volkner just wanted to help his brother, and not only did he fail, he lost him," Saylee said, crouching in front of the confused psychic again. "I'm sad because even if I think he made the wrong choices, I understand why he made them, and I'm sad because I've lost a brother too, and I know how much it hurts but I can't imagine the loneliness of hurting like that without anybody around you knowing."

"I should've done more for him," Flint said, still sitting on the floor, his shoulders slumped as he watched Blue and Girish haul the still-unconscious Volkner to his feet.

"If we're all gonna get into spirals of guilt and self-hatred, can we do it in the warm?" Blue asked. "I mean, I speak from experience here, but if you're gonna sit and hate yourself, do it somewhere where you're _not_ gonna catch pneumonia and nobody's gonna move you for a couple of days. Also I really want somebody else to deal with this guy when he wakes up. So can we go?"

" _When you are asking people to do things,_ " Mewtwo asked, sounding confused, " _are you not supposed to say please?_ "

{}

{}

 _Happy New Year, folks! I hope you started off your new year right. May ye always prosper an yer enemies ken it!_

 _Fun fact: as of submitting this chapter, this series is now, by AO3's reckoning,_ over a million words _! Holy shit! To celebrate, and to thank everybody who's been reading this wild ride thus far, I'm opening up a casting call-specifically, I wanna know about your OCs and put them in_ Eternal Enmity _! In_ Calamity Calls, _I put in a big chunk of my friends' OCs, but this time I want to put more work into working other people's OCs more organically into the story. So if you want to send me your OC, please send me their:_

 _-Name_

 _-Age_

 _-Gender_

 _-Sexuality_

 _-Physical description_

 _-Pokemon_

 _-Other Relevant Information (career, goals, family, as much backstory as you want)_

 _And please submit in a manner in which you're happy for me to communicate with you-over FFnet PMs, AO3 comment chains, or over tumblr PMs to sayleeofkanto, because I really mean it about wanting to work any OCs submitted into the story organically, and that may mean contacting you to ask about altering details of a character's background to fit the setting, say, or just confirming that an upcoming scene is in-character, etc. I want to handle your characters right!_

 _If you're up for this, basic ground rules, they're probably obvious but just in case:_

 _-Don't submit a team with legendary Pokemon in it, for hopefully obvious reasons. Have all the rare Pokemon or shinies you want, have as many unusual quirks to those Pokemon you want, but not legendaries!_

 _-Please do not demand that a character becomes an avatar. I have certain gods that still don't yet have avatars and I may actually match an OC to them if they happen to fit perfectly, but that really needs to happen as a natural development of their role in the story and is not something I can promise to anybody._

 _-Please don't submit your version of a canon character as an OC. Your version of a random NPC trainer, sure! But not your version of a gym leader, elite, professor, etc. I already have plans for all of them, believe me._

 _-I'm open to characters who are related to canon characters, but I would ask that you're open to discussion of how or if I can fit your OC around my pre-existing plans for that canon character. As with avatars, I can promise nothing, I'm afraid._

 _Submit away! I hope you all have a good 2018! Don't forget to vote!_

 _ **Saylee:**_

 _Chaz the Charizard, Tobias the Togekiss, Mary the Ampharos, Skye the Altaria, Nadia the Camerupt, Elsa the Glaceon_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Caelin the Infernape, Sally the Luxray, Zoe the Crobat, Elsa the Glaceon, Ferne the Floatzel)_

 _ **Blue:**_

 _Sam the Blastoise, Gary the Arcanine, Adam the Alakazam, Eira the Electabuzz, Girish the Gabite, Rashad the Lucario_

 _ **Key:**_

 _Thomas the Grovyle, Topaz the Flygon, Manami the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom_

 _(ingame team by the end of the E4: Terra the Turtwig, Tashigi the Togetic, Maya the Azumarill, Ephraim the Leafeon, Raiden the Rotom, Gareth the Gallade)_

 _ **Jenny:**_

 _Sarah-Jane the Staraptor, Jack the Jolteon, Mickey the Manectric, Rose the Gardevoir, Craig the Castform, Sophie the Delcatty_

 _ **Seka:**_

 _Edge the Zangoose, Talyn the Mightyena, Ardenol the Weavile_


End file.
